The Moroccan Prosecutor’s Office has closed the investigation into the tragedy of June 24, 2022 at the Melilla border in which 23 emigrants died, due to “the absence of evidence of crime.” As sources from the Moroccan Public Ministry have informed EFE, the investigation confirms that there was a “proportional use of force” by the Moroccan agents.

It is the same conclusion reached by the Spanish Prosecutor’s Officewhich also archived the investigation after seeing no crime on the part of Spanish officials in that tragedy, which occurred when nearly 1,700 migrants, most of them Sudanese, tried to access the city of Melilla by forcing the door of the border post with the Moroccan city of Nador .

That attempt cost the lives of 23 emigrants, according to the Moroccan authorities, and 27 according to the Moroccan NGO Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), which reports that there are another 70 missing people. “Research has shown that The intervention of the public forces was to repel the attack, the danger that existed and maintain order with a proportional use of forcedespite the aggressive and violent nature of the emigrants, their large number and that they possessed edged weapons,” stated sources from the Moroccan Prosecutor’s Office.

They also explained that the investigation shows that the injuries suffered by the migrants were a consequence of the “attempt to forcibly cross (the border post) in the midst of an intense stampede and crowd” of people and the “attempt to climb” said post. “This is what the testimonies of the emigrants confirmed, also corroborated by the results of the autopsy that was carried out on the bodies of the deceased,” the same sources stressed.

During the investigation, the judicial police and the prosecutor’s office heard the version of what happened from civil society organizations in Nador, as sources from said associations explained to EFE. The Nador section of the Moroccan NGO AMDH confirmed this weekend on its Facebook account the burial of some of the victims of the Melilla tragedy following “instructions” from the Prosecutor’s Office. According to the NGO, the burials have been decided “after collecting DNA samples”, and has indicated that they do not know the total number.

After the Melilla tragedy, The Moroccan authorities detained hundreds of migrants who were involved in the attempted jump, some were transported on buses to the interior or south of the country and others were prosecuted. The Moroccan justice system sentenced 61 of them to sentences of up to 3 years in prison.

The Spanish Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaskahas recalled in recent hours that the State Attorney General’s Office carried out a “broad and exhaustive” investigation and concluded that there was “no type of responsibility on the part of any authority or any Spanish official.”

For its part, the Moroccan public body National Human Rights Council (CNDH) prepared a report on the events of June 24, 2022 in which it concluded that there were 23 dead and that they died from “falling from the fence” and “asphyxiation.” mechanics”.

Last week, the NGO Border Forensics and the Center for the Defense of Human Rights Iridia published a “counterreport” (from which AMDH disassociated itself after being cited as a collaborator) that points to the two neighboring countries as responsible for the Melilla tragedy. : to Morocco for the “trap” set for migrants, which triggered their attempt to enter, and to Spain for the police response at the fence “injuring migrants and treating them in an inhumane and degrading manner.”