The Diplomat
Judge of Zaragoza, Rafael Lasala, who is investigating the circumstances of the entry and exit from Spain of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, has asked the Provincial Brigade of Aliens and Borders of the National Police Corps of Navarre to report within five days on “the identity of the command or authority that ordered this operation”.
Likewise, the judge wants to know who was the person who authorised the access of the retinue to the Authorities Room of Pamplona-Noain Airport on 2 June.
In an order dated 19 August, to which Europa Press had access, the magistrate also indicates that he wants to know the identity of the people who accessed this area of the airport. He adds that all the information relating to the passport and baggage checks carried out on these people before they boarded the flight that left for Algiers at 01:40 on 2 June must be sent to him.
The judge, who in this order is responding to the request of the private prosecution of Antonio Urdiales, adds that he also wants to know if there were any of the passports presented that day in Pamplona with the name of Brahim Ghali.
The Polisario Front leader arrived on 18 April in an Algerian plane at the Zaragoza Air Base, without passing border controls or documentation, from where he left in an ambulance to the San Pedro Hospital in Logroño, a health centre where he was admitted under the name of Mohamed Benbatouche to be treated for conditions related to Covid-19. On 2 June, he left the country from Pamplona after testifying by videoconference before the judge of the Audiencia Nacional Santiago Pedraz.
Among Judge Lasala’s latest resolutions is that of 9 August, when he summoned Camilo Villarino, former chief of staff of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, to testify as an investigator in relation to Ghali’s entry into Spain. Villarino, who a few hours ago saw the government withdraw his request for his ambassadorship to Russia, is scheduled to testify on 1 September.
Camilo Villarino indicated in a reply to questions sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the magistrate at the end of July that it was he who, by telephone, indicated to the Air Force General Staff that the documentation should not be requested from the person arriving on the Algerian government plane, without specifying whether he did so at the request of the minister.
