Judge Tardón asks the Defense to inform her if Moroccan military ships entered Spanish waters near Ceuta

The judge of the National Court investigating the massive irregular entry into Ceuta from Morocco has required the Ministry of Defense to inform her whether between July 29 and August 10 there was "entry, stay, transit or presence in Spanish territorial waters, adjacent to the City of Ceuta, of warships or military vessels of the Moroccan Navy." If this were the case, Judge María Tardón requests that the specific dates and time periods be specified.

In an order, the judge rejects the proceedings requested by the Iustitia Europa prosecution as disproportionate, although she considers that other specific and proportionate proceedings should be carried out "aimed at verifying the extent of the existence of the aforementioned intrusion and the terms in which it could have occurred, as the President of the Government and several ministers have admitted," the order states.

In his resolution, Tardón recalls that from what is recorded in the proceedings "we can only conclude that, for the moment, there is no objective element that allows us to affirm that a possible presence of Moroccan naval units in Spanish territorial waters adjacent to the City of Ceuta had participation, intervention, collaboration or causal relationship with the events that motivated the initiation of these proceedings."

Nor is there to date, he adds, any data incorporated into the case that allows it to be maintained that the actions of possible warships of the Navy of the Kingdom of Morocco were part of the mechanism of organization, facilitation or execution of such events.

Among the agreed procedures, the magistrate also requires Defense, through the JEMAD, to inform her of "if the aforementioned intrusion had motivated the need for some type of action, reaction, approach or interaction of the ships with the Spanish Navy or with any other national military unit, or, where appropriate, the coincidence of those with other Spanish ships belonging to other state-owned maritime surveillance, rescue and/or security services."

The judge also asks "if there are recordings of these possible stays and/or permanence of ships belonging to the Moroccan Navy in the aforementioned Spanish waters." If there are any, they must be delivered to the court.