Spanish Court Reopens Case of Moroccan Teen’s Death in Detention After Video Surfaces

The file of the young Moroccan, 18 years old, who died on July 1, 2019 in an "accidental" manner, while he was in detention in the Tierras de Oria center, has been reopened after the publication of a video that retraces the conditions of his death, reports Le Monde.

In this authentic video, nothing in the victim’s behavior justified the option of practicing "mechanical restraint" on him, i.e. immobilizing him on a bed. It was during this brutal operation carried out by 6 agents of the center that the young man gave up the ghost.

"This video shows how they killed him, it’s a murder," declares Anass Tahiri, 22, a brother of the victim who recalls that the family has appealed the decision.

The investigation showed that the agents had "scrupulously followed the protocol" in the application of the restraint measures, defends Ginso, the manager of the center, who adds that it is an exceptional practice. An opinion not shared by Francisco Fernandez Caparros of the Andalusian Association for Human Rights (APDHA) who claims that it is "common" in juvenile detention centers. Proof of this, this practice had already caused two deaths in Spain: in Madrid in 2011 and in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in 2018.

Realizing the situation, the Almeria prosecutor ordered the "immediate" suspension of this practice in the centers managed by Ginso.

It should be noted that the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, after a visit to the Tierras de Oria center in 2016, had already considered its restraint procedure as a "disproportionate use of force" and requested its suppression, without follow-up.