The defense of Yassine Kanjaa, the alleged jihadist who committed a multiple attack in Algeciras (Cádiz) in January 2023, is trying to avoid his trial in the National Court at all costs. In a session held this Thursday before the magistrates who will prosecute him (prior to holding an oral hearing for which there is still no date), his lawyer has stated that the case should come out of this exceptional court – which assumes the terrorism summaries. — and send it to the Provincial Court of Cádiz, so that a popular jury can judge it. The lawyer alleges that the psychological disorders suffered by the accused are incompatible with his actions having a “terrorist” motive and, therefore, this type of crime should be ruled out. If this initiative goes ahead, which she has already tried before without success, it would mean a possible reduction in sentences. The Prosecutor’s Office, which has opposed this transfer, requests 50 years in prison for Kanjaa.
The attack in Algeciras affects one of the great debates that the National Court faces about the limits of the crime of terrorism: can it be considered that an attack of these characteristics, committed by a man with mental problems, is dominated by his alleged jihadist affinities with the aim of disturbing the public peace? Or, instead, is everything a product of his psychic alterations? Depending on the interpretation made in each specific case, the legal response changes completely. In fact, in an order issued in May of last year, the Criminal Chamber of the National Court itself expressed its doubts about the “terrorist nature” of the crime perpetrated by Kanjaa, since “psychotic illnesses” could influence the time. to classify (or not) the events as a jihadist attack.
However, for now, the National Court has decided that the case should not leave its domain – although now, after the hearing this Thursday, the court will have to rule again. The investigating judge Joaquín Gadea, who directed the investigations, was already clear when he concluded the investigation: as he concluded, after experiencing an express radicalization process, Kanjaa moved with a “terrorist” purpose of jihadist inspiration, despite the psychiatric problems he suffers from. The magistrate put on the table the thesis that “the psychological alterations that he could suffer” would not affect “the classification of the events as terrorist”, but simply the “extent of guilt” of the defendant in the event that he is condemned. That is, complete, incomplete or mitigating defenses could be applied.
Prosecutor Emilio Miró, who is asking for 50 years in prison for terrorism crimes, maintains a similar position. According to his indictment, Kanjaa experienced a process of radicalization towards the “most rigorous thesis of Islam” during the months prior to January 25, 2023, when he murdered the sacristan Diego Valencia with machetes and injured other people during the attack against two central churches of the Cadiz city. In this way, although he “presented a psychotic condition that included delusions of probable schizophrenic affiliation,” his “volitional and intellective capacities were not totally nullified by his illness.” It is not “unreasonable to think” that the attack “was committed in an orderly and sequential manner” and it should be the court that determines what the “affectation of its powers” is, Miró stressed during the hearing this Thursday, after maintaining that mental problems should only be considered as “mitigating” when imposing penalties for terrorism.
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In this sense, all the accusations agree that it should be during the trial in the National Court when it is determined whether Kanjaa operated guided by a “terrorist” interest. And, as the prosecutor has stressed, if the case leaves this exceptional court, the victims will not have the opportunity to prove it, since the accusation for this type of crimes would automatically fall. “The investigation proves that the accused presents a slight limitation, being fully aware of his actions,” said Jorge Piedrafita, lawyer for a popular accusation, who recalled that the police reports have “proved” that he began to follow “groups and proclamations.” of Islamic terrorism on the Internet”, and that he designed a “previous plan that he executed in a premeditated manner against buildings and members of the Catholic Church, objectives identified by the Islamist terrorist organizations.”
The defense position is different. According to Lidia Rancaño, Kanjaa’s lawyer, her mental pathology affects the legal classification of the facts. “This pathology is incompatible with the search for a terrorist purpose in a conscious, voluntary and intentional manner,” he stated this Thursday, when he requested that, since this component of terrorism does not exist, the case should leave the National Court and fall to the Court of Cádiz. According to her thesis, if the case is not transferred to the Cádiz court, the rights of the accused to the ordinary judge predetermined by law and to a process with all the guarantees would be violated.
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