The Progressive Union of Prosecutors (UPF) has demanded this Wednesday the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, due to the tragedy in Melilla on June 24 in which at least 23 migrants died, some 70 according to the version of the NGOs, and after new revelations from the media (among them, Public) that point to the fact that there were deaths in Spanish territory.
In a statement, the association has regretted that the Ministry of the Interior repeats “the same forms of response” that occurred in the tragedy of the Tarajal beach in Ceuta “in the face of the actions of violation of the human rights of the migrant population at the border “. For the progressive prosecutors, Marlaska has emulated the former Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz, of the PP, withdrawing “in the denial of the evidence, in impossible discussions about the extension of the Spanish territory and its border or about the scope of the performance of the Spanish sovereignty over them”, to the point of “shifting all responsibility” from the Spanish Government “to the Moroccan authorities.
In this context, UPF has recalled that the first final provision of the current Citizen Security Law establishes that the special regime of Ceuta and Melilla states that “international regulations on human rights and international protection of which Spain is a part” in the face of the popularly called “hot returns” of migrants. In addition, he has criticized that, “currently”, the Ministry of the Interior “continues to make it impossible to apply for international protection” in areas of Ceuta and melilla.
For this reason, the Progressive Union of Prosecutors has considered that the events that occurred on the southern border of Spain in Melilla “are not compatible with the standards of respect for fundamental rights that bind our country.” At this point, the association has demanded the dismissal of Marlaska and, by the way, that this serve as “inflection point” so that the Government “now implements new dynamics of action on the southern border that are respectful and compatible” with the obligations of Spain, “with the exercise of Spanish sovereignty throughout our border territory and that, in addition, involves the implementation of ways that make it possible to request international protection”.
