Spanish Prosecutor Opens Criminal Case Against Polisario Members for Moroccan Consulate Attack

The acts of vandalism perpetrated against the general consulate of Morocco in Valencia, on November 15, 2020, will not go unpunished. The Attorney General of Valencia has decided to initiate proceedings following a complaint filed by Mourad Elajouti, a lawyer at the Casablanca bar, also vice-president of the Moroccan Lawyers Club, reports Médias24. He denounces acts that undermine "the inviolability, integrity and dignity of the diplomatic representation."

In a letter from the Valencia prosecutor’s office dated January 18, it is written that criminal investigations have been initiated and have been "transmitted to the Valencia District Court so that the corresponding court can, in due course, initiate the criminal proceedings." It is a question of elucidating the existence of a possible "offense of damages and/or an offense committed on the occasion of the exercise of fundamental rights."

In his complaint, the Moroccan lawyer had invoked, among other things, "articles 605 and 606 of the Spanish Penal Code" which "expressly criminalize attacks against official diplomatic premises." The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) imposes on host states a "special obligation to take all appropriate measures to prevent the premises of the mission from being invaded or damaged, the peace of the mission from being disturbed or its dignity diminished."