The family of the sacristan murdered in Algeciras demands compensation from the Government for not having expelled the jihadist months earlier

Teresa López Pavón Sevilla

Andrés Machado Algeciras

Seville

Algeciras

Updated Thursday, January 25, 2024-10:39

Yassine Kanjaa

was in Spain irregularly and had an expulsion order issued seven months earlier when, on January 25, 2023, just one year ago today, he attacked two churches in Algeciras and killed the sacristan Diego Valencia Pérez shouting "Allah is great."

For this reason, the victim's family has filed a claim for

financial liability

against the Ministry of the Interior which, if admitted, will require compensation to his heirs.

The confessed murderer was arrested the same night of the crime and placed at the disposal of the

National Court

as accused of a crime of terrorism in a process whose investigation has already been concluded and pending a date for the oral trial to be set.

The parish priest Antonio Rodríguez,

who was in the chapel of

San Isidro

, was also injured in the attacks

, and died a few months later, although his death is not related to the injuries suffered.

In principle, if the court that tries him admits that what happened that afternoon in Algeciras conforms to what the Penal Code considers a crime of terrorism, the family will have the right to be compensated.

But Kanjaa's lawyer defends that he acted in this violent manner as a consequence of his

mental problems

, despite the fact that it was the accused himself who recognized the facts and framed them in the fight linked to the cause of jihadism.

The case has been investigated at all times as a crime of terrorism and for that reason the National Court, which is the competent jurisdiction in these cases, took charge of the investigation from the beginning.

Terrorist murder would entail a

permanent, reviewable prison

sentence .

But the family has already activated the administrative route in its property claim in anticipation that the court could finally resolve in the opposite direction to its claim.

The Moroccan Yassine Kanjaa had a pending expulsion order issued by the subdelegate of the Government in Cádiz on

June 22, 2022,

that is, seven months earlier.

The family's lawyer,

Manuel Gutiérrez Luna

, considers in the document presented to the Ministry of the Interior that, if that order had been executed, "the

fatal outcome described

and which cost Mr. Valencia his life would not have occurred."

The object of the claim is "the reparation by that Ministry of the damages that occurred as a consequence of the

abnormal functioning of its services

due to the failure to adopt measures that were its responsibility" and that would have prevented the death of the sacristan.

Diego Valencia Pérez suffered an attack by Yassine Kanjaa when he was inside the

Church of La Palma

in Algeciras.

There he received a first blow.

But, when he fled and tried to call for help, he was followed by his murderer, who caught up with him in the Plaza Alta and dealt him a second blow to the head with a machete that ended his life.

The terrorist was arrested about 100 meters from the place and the Central Investigative Court number 6 of the National Court

took charge of the proceedings ,

which has already issued the indictment for the crime of terrorist murder.

Concentration in memory of the victims

The

Algeciras City Council

has called this Thursday, at 7:45 p.m., a rally in memory of the victims of the attack committed a year ago in the city, as reported by the mayor,

José Ignacio Landaluce, who has invited

social groups and citizens in general to join in this act of tribute and rejection of any type of violence.

After the rally, at 8 p.m., a funeral mass will begin in the Church of La Palma in memory of the man who was sacristan of this temple.

Diego Valencia's family issued a statement days ago in which they recognize the support received in these 12 months from "friends and unknown people."

"It is time to thank all of them for their generous closeness and selfless solidarity, without which, it would honestly have been difficult

to endure the pain generated

."

"We want to extend our gratitude to the

Bishopric of Cádiz and Ceuta,

the media and all citizens and authorities, who unanimously expressed their regret for Diego's death and paid him affectionate and posthumous tributes in his memory."

All these displays of affection, they add, are "proof and demonstration that his life, and that of so many other people belonging to the Church, was and is full of meaning."