Amnesty International has documented 18 further alleged episodes of beatings and ill-treatment of migrants in Ceuta by soldiers on duty, following the government’s announcement that the Defence Ministry would investigate earlier allegations. The organization says the reported abuse continued after that announcement, while authorities have not provided an account of progress in their efforts to stop it.
The latest findings draw on interviews, photographs and video, and medical records. People interviewed by the organization described being attacked at night while sleeping outdoors, including with batons, punches, kicks and electric shocks. Medical records cited in the report include fractures, bruising, cuts and head wounds consistent with baton blows.
Amnesty says it contacted the Ceuta prosecutor’s office and the Defence Ministry but has no information that specific soldiers are being investigated for torture or ill-treatment, have been removed from duty, or that victims and witnesses have received adequate protection from reprisals. The organization also says some migrants identified soldiers they say had assaulted them before, and reported that those soldiers remained at their posts and had threatened them against reporting the incidents.
Among the cases described is that of a man who said a soldier used a Taser on his chest while he slept near the Sidi Embarek road at about 3 a.m. on October 24. He told Amnesty he became dizzy, vomited and lost consciousness, and was not taken to hospital. Another man said soldiers punched him in the face while he slept at Benítez beach, leaving him unable to see out of one eye for two weeks.
The report also highlights alleged attacks on unaccompanied minors. Amnesty estimates that at least 500 children are still sleeping outdoors in Ceuta, alongside 3,626 minors whom the city government says have been registered and brought off the streets. A 17-year-old told the organization he was struck on the head with a baton while sleeping between cars and needed ten stitches. A 15-year-old said a soldier kneed him in the mouth and broke his phone, which he used to contact his mother.
Amnesty also reported ten cases of alleged torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment from before September 30, when it published its first investigation into violence against migrants in Ceuta. It considers four of these particularly serious, describing accounts in which people were detained, driven to isolated locations in military vehicles, restrained with cable ties and then assaulted. The organization says it has also received allegations of ill-treatment by National Police and Civil Guard officers, which it says should be investigated.
Sources: elDiario.es.