Spanish soldier jailed for abandoning Melilla post and staying in Morocco

Spain’s Supreme Court has convicted a soldier in the Spanish Army and sentenced him to two prison terms of ten months each after he abandoned both his authorized place of residence and his military post for more than a year, spending the period in Morocco without permission or oversight from his superiors. The court’s Military Chamber also dismissed his appeal and ordered his suspension from military service, along with a ban on holding public office or standing for election.

According to Spanish media reports, the soldier had been authorized to reside in the city of Melilla after requesting medical leave following a traffic accident. However, beginning in July of the same year, he stopped attending scheduled medical appointments and failed to respond to summonses from his military unit. Despite repeated attempts to contact him by phone and through official correspondence, the unit was unable to locate him at his registered address.

A few days later, the soldier sent medical reports from Morocco via WhatsApp. Written in French, the documents stated that he had been involved in an accident on Moroccan territory. He did not, however, provide any evidence that he had obtained authorization to leave Spain, nor did he justify his failure to remain in contact with his military unit or comply with its summonses.

The soldier also failed to return to duty after the expiration of a separate period of personal leave that he had requested in November 2023. He remained outside military oversight until December 2024, when he eventually regularized his situation.

Subsequent investigations revealed that he had been living in the Moroccan city of Nador without informing military authorities of his whereabouts. In its ruling, the court noted that he had made several trips through airports during that period and had also traveled to Germany, which it considered evidence that no medical or physical condition prevented him from traveling or fulfilling his military duties.

The court further noted that repeated efforts to locate and summon him through judicial channels proved unsuccessful, ultimately leading to his arrest and appearance before his military unit.

The defense submitted a psychological report stating that the soldier suffered from an adjustment disorder accompanied by anxiety. The court, however, ruled that the diagnosis did not exempt him from criminal responsibility.