chargement...
The Regional Court of Appeals in Cadiz began the trial on Tuesday of Salvadora Mateos, former central government delegate in Ceuta, and Mabel Deu, former deputy president of the local government, on charges of abuse of power. The case concerns the deportation of 55 Moroccan minors to Morocco in August 2021 without following legal procedures.
The defendants face a possible ban from holding public office for 12 years, after having approved the deportations under a bilateral agreement between Morocco and Spain signed in 2007. However, this agreement does not exempt them from complying with Spanish laws protecting minors’ rights.
During the session, Juan Hernández, then chief of staff for the government delegate, testified that the operation was conducted under «direct orders» from the Ministry of the Interior, specifically from Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Secretary General for Security Rafael Pérez.
Human rights organizations that filed the complaints, including the Spanish Network for Immigration and L’Escuela Association, argued that the minors were deported without individual consultation or access to a lawyer or interpreter, constituting a clear violation of their rights.
The 55 deported minors were part of more than 1,200 children who entered Ceuta in May 2021 during an unprecedented border crisis, when over 12,000 people crossed into the city from Morocco.
