Two transporters of illegal immigrants were convicted, they were sentenced to nine years in prison for the deaths of four Moroccan migrants who drowned after being forced to jump from a boat last year near the Spanish city of Ceuta in North Africa, the AP reported.
Ceuta prosecutors said the sentences were handed down without trial after the two men reached a plea agreement.
Prosecutors said the carriers – residents of Ceuta and Morocco – picked up nine young people on a pleasure boat in Morocco in January 2023 with the intention of illegally bringing them into Spain.
When the wind picked up as they approached Ceuta, they forced the migrants to jump into the water and swim to shore on their own. Five of them managed to do it, but others drowned. Their bodies were found a few days later.
The two carriers were charged with four counts of negligent homicide and crimes against the rights of foreign citizens.
Prior to the plea agreement, the prosecution required 32 for them -year prison sentence. Prosecutors also ordered them to pay 205,000 euros in compensation to each family of the victims.
In another recent case, Spanish police arrested three people for the murder last November of five migrants who were threatened with a machete and forced to jump from the boat they were on sailed along with dozens of other illegal immigrants, off the southern coast of Spain.
Prepared by: Nina Petrovich