The public servants' association Manos Limpias has filed a criminal complaint with Spain's Supreme Court against Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Defense Minister Margarita Robles, accusing them of gross negligence for allegedly failing to prevent what it calls a migratory invasion of Ceuta.
The complaint, filed by Manos Limpias secretary general Miguel Bernad, argues that although both the Spanish government and Rabat have blamed criminal mafias for organizing the migrant surge, those mafias acted only as the executing arm while the planning and inducement came from Morocco's government. Mafias, the complaint states, operate to bring in migrants, not to carry out an invasion.
Manos Limpias describes Spain as the victim, as a sovereign nation, along with its citizens and above all the people of Ceuta. The group says a crime clearly took place and rejects what it calls the false argument that the matter is closed because some migrants have since returned, noting that 15,000 of them, in its words the invaders and offenders, remain on Spanish territory. It argues the offense cannot go unpunished and that someone had to report it.
What the CNI knew
The complaint states it is beyond dispute that Spain's National Intelligence Center, the CNI, was aware of the migratory avalanche, as were Moroccan intelligence services. It argues the information should then have reached Defense Minister Robles, who oversees the CNI after its director general, as well as Interior Minister Grande-Marlaska, and that both should have informed the prime minister.
Manos Limpias contends the warning was serious enough that Sánchez and the two ministers should have activated diplomatic and defensive mechanisms against the invasion. Instead, the group says, inaction and gross negligence prevailed and the invasion went ahead.
Criticism of the prosecutor's office
Manos Limpias also accuses the Fiscalía, Spain's public prosecutor's office, of failing its duty to defend the Constitution and current law, calling its conduct pathetic. It argues the Fiscalía should have opened proceedings to clarify possible criminal responsibility but chose not to, because, the group says, it answers to the executive branch and had to look the other way.
The association argues that Sánchez, Grande-Marlaska and Robles may have incurred an omission of the duty to prosecute crimes, describing their alleged dereliction of duty as patent, manifest and total.
What Manos Limpias wants
Manos Limpias is asking the Supreme Court's Second Chamber to open proceedings to investigate the events. It also wants the court to request testimony from the CNI on whether it knew of the invasion in advance and, if so, whether it subsequently informed the officials named in the complaint.
