“We are here today to report on a mass killing, enforced disappearances, acts of torture, discrimination and racism, violation of the principle of non-refoulement. All this on European soil,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said during the presentation at Madrid of a report on the tragedy.
They are “violations of international law,” he continued, pointing out to the Spanish and Moroccan authorities for wanting to “cover up their murders” by hiding the truth, almost six months after the events occurred.
According to the report of the NGO, which collected testimonies from numerous migrants present on June 24 at the border between Morocco and Melila and analyzed videos and satellite images, “the methods used by the Moroccan and Spanish authorities contributed to the death of at least 37 people”.
Amnesty assures that 77 migrants remain missing since the events.
“Some actions by Spanish and Moroccan agents (…) may constitute violations of the right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment,” Amnesty wrote.
Among these actions would be “beating people who were already immobilized (…), denying emergency medical assistance to injured people (and) the repeated use of tear gas against people who were in a fenced off space from which they had no way of get away”.
The Spanish Ministry of the Interior showed in a statement its “firmest rejection” of the Amnesty report, which in its opinion contains “false statements (…) of extreme seriousness”.
With information from AFP