The judge approves the provisional transfer of the alleged jihadist from Algeciras to a psychiatric unit

Police inspect the area of ​​the attack, with the body of the deceased sacristan, on January 25;

and in the box, the photograph of Yassine Kanjaa.Nono Rico (Nono Rico)

Judge Joaquín Gadea has approved the provisional transfer of the alleged jihadist from Algeciras, Yassine Kanjaa, to a psychiatric unit attached to penal institutions, as proposed by the experts from the National Court who studied the suspect, as confirmed by various legal sources.

The magistrate has notified the decision this Tuesday, at the same time that he has given the green light to lift the secrecy of the investigations and has insisted that the investigation continue for crimes of terrorism.

Kanjaa, a 25-year-old Moroccan citizen, was arrested on January 25 after hacking to death the sacristan Diego Valencia and injuring other people during an attack on two central churches in the city of Cadiz.

The psychiatric state of the detainee has become one of the keys to this investigation.

On January 31, the day after ordering his imprisonment, Gadea commissioned a report on Kanjaa's mental health.

According to sources in the case, two experts from the National Court then evaluated the alleged jihadist for a couple of hours and drew up a first provisional report, where they proposed transferring the detainee to a psychiatric unit of Penitentiary Institutions —there are currently only two: in Fontcalent (Alicante ) and Seville.

The technicians raised this measure on a temporary basis, waiting for the final report on his imputability to be drawn up.

More information

The alleged jihadist from Algeciras warned the judge that he would "kill more people" if he was released

This factor has also grabbed the defense.

In a double sense.

On the one hand, to request that the case be sent to an ordinary court in Algeciras;

since, according to his thesis, the possibility that Kanjaa suffers from a psychiatric disorder implies that the facts would not fit into the crimes of terrorism —an option that Gadea has ruled out this Tuesday.

On the other hand, the lawyers of the alleged terrorist seek to mitigate his responsibility.

The Criminal Chamber itself, which confirmed the provisional detention of the detainee, put that idea on the table by stating that, although Kanjaa did not show "obvious signs of alterations" during his interrogations by the Police and the magistrate, a possibility has not been ruled out. alteration "pathology or disorder that affects their ability to know reality or control their will", which may cause "complete, incomplete or mitigating defenses" to be applied.

Sources in the case detail that Kanjaa has also changed lawyers.

Her defense has now been assumed by the García Peña & Andujar law firm.

Sources of his defense explain to EL PAÍS that they have not yet been informed when the alleged jihadist will be transferred to a psychiatric unit, nor what it will be.

The investigation indicates that the arrested person underwent a process of express "radicalization" and "self-indoctrination", which lasted for barely a month before the alleged terrorist attack.

According to the Criminal Chamber, Kanjaa himself detailed in his statement before the instructor "how he carried out his violent action in a deliberate, conscious and desired way, in the context of radical religious motivation."

“He was consistent within his confessed murderous intent and his radical interpretation of his religious faith, which leads him to identify himself with characters from the Koran and to understand that his mission is to physically eliminate those whom he considers 'enemies or satans.'

the bloody attack

The instructor Joaquín Gadea maintains in an order issued this Tuesday - through which he lifts the secrecy of the summary and refuses to send the case to a court in Algeciras - that the evidence collected points to the attack "responding to terrorist purposes".

This is how he summarizes what happened on January 25: “Kanjaa went to the church of San Isidro around 6:30 p.m., where he entered the temple and began to shout expressions and make references to religious elements typical of the temple, [...] referring to , among other issues, the Koran, the Bible and other religious elements and pointing to one of the virgins of the church, in a defiant attitude.

After a brief dialectical dispute, the detainee finally decides to leave the place.

“After leaving the church, Yassine returned to her home with the clear and defined objective of executing the events that would unfold next, and for this purpose she took a large machete that she kept in her room, hid it under the djellaba. the black woman she was wearing, turned off her mobile phone and put it inside a drawer of her bedside table", the magistrate's description continues: "Around 7:00 p.m., when he leaves his home armed, he meets the first of his victims, the one that causes injuries without resulting in death.

Yassine himself admits that he attacked him with the intention of killing him, since he believes that he is 'a Spanish-Moroccan who attends that church because he is a convert and does not practice the authentic religion, Islam'.

“Yassine shows him that under the djellaba you saw he carries the large machete with which he carries out all subsequent attacks.

Therefore, in fear of a new attack, this time more harmful, the victim flees, not being pursued by the attacker," the order reads: "The third phase is temporarily centered around 7:15 p.m.

Yassine returns to the religious center of San Isidro, the place where he had been minutes before, and undertakes the second injurious action.

He accesses the interior of the cult center uttering shouts in Arabic, he goes through the central aisle towards the altar where the priest was.

When he reaches the altar, the priest tries to escape [...].

But, when he starts to flee, he stumbles and falls, at which point Yassine gives the priest a strong blow to the neck”.

Relatives, friends and neighbors participate in the funeral of the sacristan Diego Valencia, on January 27. Carrasco Ragel (EFE)

The priest, Antonio Rodríguez, will survive.

But Kanjaa will leave another victim behind him.

This time deadly.

“Around 7:25 p.m., Yassine goes to a second church, Nuestra Señora de la Palma.

He goes inside and goes directly to [the sacristan] Diego Valencia.

He tries to flee from the blows by going at first to the church yard, although he ends up fleeing outside the church through the side door.

At all times he is pursued by Yassine, who does not stop attacking, hurling continuous blows with the machete.

Until when they are already in the center of the Plaza Alta, the victim falls to the ground.

That is the moment in which Yassine deals two fatal blows aimed at the decapitation of the deceased”.

The alleged jihadist would be arrested minutes later in the center of Algeciras.

This is how Gadea tells it: “Once he leaves the deceased on the ground, he begins to walk towards the west of the square, making a gesture of victory and pointing his machete towards the sky.

He continues walking until he reaches another parish, Our Lady of Europe, where he begins to kick the door four times.

Failing to achieve his objective, he continues his march down Murillo street towards the Mirador el Muro, where before he performs the victory gesture again with the machete in hand.

Until he is arrested ”.

During his statement before the judge, Kanjaa admitted the facts and warned that if he were released, he would kill more people.

According to a ruling by the Criminal Chamber, he justified his attack by defining it as a "mission" from Allah that he had to fulfill.

He linked those attacked with "satan" and described them as "enemies of Islam and Muslims".

In addition, he stated that, during the three days prior to the attack, he had experienced a strange sensation, which he described as “seeing everything black, seeing death or thinking about committing suicide”.

He did not show any sign of compassion.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber