Interior accepts that the videos of the tragedy in Melilla be seen in Congress behind closed doors

MADRID, 21 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministry of the Interior has informed Congress that it has its approval so that the videos of the tragedy in Melilla on June 24 can be viewed at parliamentary headquarters by the spokespersons of the Interior Commission, in a door session closed.

As detailed to Europa Press by Interior sources, the Ministry has authorized that the images can be seen in Congress this Friday the 25th, as all the parliamentary groups have requested today, except the PSOE.

Last Friday, the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, sent a letter to the president of the Interior Commission, José Luis Ábalos, in which he offered that the "totality" of the images of 24-J be seen in the Ministry of the Interior, counting for this with a representative of the Command of the Civil Guard of Melilla.

Interior recalled in his letter that the images of 24-J are the same "that are in the possession of the investigations opened by the Ombudsman and the State Attorney General's Office." The groups question the Ministry's version and want to know whether or not there were deaths on Spanish soil.

In line with what was sustained by the Ombudsman, in addition, some spokespersons criticize that Civil Guard agents threw stones at migrants who were trying to reach Spain or ask why medical aid was not offered to the injured.

The aforementioned Interior sources emphasize that the Ministry maintains the need for the recordings to be transferred by a person in charge of the Melilla Command, as it is the "depository body and custodian of all the images captured on that day", for which reason it will expressly move to Madrid for this purpose.

According to parliamentary sources to Europa Press, the groups want the duration of the recordings to be previously specified, as well as to focus on what happened in Chinatown, the border perimeter area where at least 23 migrants died.

The images that the Interior spokespersons will view include the recordings captured with the Civil Guard media, including a helicopter and a drone. The Ministry recently clarified to the Prosecutor's Office and the Ombudsman that there had been no cuts because one of the two media was always recording.

Last week, the Board of Spokespersons refused to set a date for the request for an investigation commission on this matter that United Podemos and the parliamentary partners of the Government had requested. The minister already appeared on this issue last September and several Interior spokespersons traveled to Melilla on November 7, after a BBC documentary questioned the official version of events.

Last Tuesday in the Senate, Grande-Marlaska reiterated his defense of the police action on 24-J, pointing out that he is "on the side of the law and the Civil Guard". "Those who were there were defending the borders of Europe from a very violent attack," she said, adding that the action was "legal, proportional and necessary." "This Minister of the Interior assumes the actions of the Civil Guard as his own," she added.