Trial Begins for Ex-Soldier Accused of Racist Murder in Murcia, Spain

Hundreds of people had demonstrated in June to protest against this murder, which was considered racist. The provincial court of Murcia, where the trial should be held in the coming months, will have to rule on this qualification of the crime against Younes, reported La Verdad. In a report, the Civil Guard, based on the statements of many witnesses to the murder, stressed that Carlos Patricio "uttered many racist insults before and during the commission of the crime".

The investigators did not find any signs of radicalization of the accused after analyzing his activity on social networks. This former soldier, a regular and very discreet customer of the bar El Muelle in Puerto de Mazarrón, according to employees, spent the entire afternoon of June 13, 2021 hurling racist insults at a group of young Moroccans including Younes. "The Moors, get out of here," he would tell them, adding that their presence was bothering him, a witness recounts.

Another witness, also an employee of the establishment, recounts that in the face of this offensive attitude of the accused, Younes approached his table and told him: "If you have something against the Moors, tell me to my face, okay?" then joined his group. On the surveillance cameras, we see Carlos Patricio leaving the bar and going to change, before returning to the bar with a firearm. Three gunshots were heard on the video before seeing Carlos Patricio leaving the premises at a calm pace.

The accused explains that he pointed the gun at Younes Bilal to scare him and had no intention of killing. It was an accident, he admits before the Totana court. A jury will determine whether the Moroccan’s death was manslaughter or murder, during a trial whose date has not yet been set.