Moroccan Man Faces 25-Year Sentence for Alleged Murder of Spanish Neighbor in Saragossa

Pending the trial before a jury, the public prosecutor is still looking for the motive for this heinous crime. Investigators were unable to prove any kind of enmity or prior confrontation between the Moroccan and his victim. For the defendant’s lawyers, Carmen Sánchez and Luis Ángel Marcén, it is a case of self-defense, as their client also suffered serious injuries and had to be urgently transferred to the hospital by the police who found him at the crime scene.

Questioned, Adil Lazizi told the agents that his neighbor had "harassed" him to help her "solve a problem" and that he "didn’t want to". He adds that the woman had knocked on his door and that as soon as he opened it, she had pulled out a bladed weapon and stabbed him. A struggle ensued during which the two fell to the ground and he managed, "with a bit of luck", to take the knife from her and plunge it into her neck.

This version of the facts provided by Adil has been denied by his girlfriend who has supported that the murder weapon came from the Moroccan’s kitchen. During the inspection of the victim’s apartment, investigators found a cap belonging to the Moroccan, as well as the missing part of the rubber glove he was wearing. Before dying, the victim identified her killer to another tenant of the building who had come to her aid, pointing to the Moroccan’s door with her right hand.

The lawyer for the victim’s family, Rafael Ariza, also accuses Adil Lazizi of murder, considering aggravating circumstances of betrayal and cruelty. He also intends to prosecute the Spanish State, whose responsibility is engaged in this murder, as the perpetrator is an escaped prisoner. "There is a responsibility of the State when a prisoner commits a crime in prison. In any case, Cristina’s murderer was a fugitive that the Security Forces took nearly two and a half years to locate and send back to prison," the lawyer specifies.