The Government of La Rioja will claim a hospital bill of 45,658 euros from Brahim Ghali

Eduardo González The Government of La Rioja is going to judicially demand a hospital bill of 45,658 euros from the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, for the 44 days in which he was admitted to a hospital in Logroño to be treated for COVID-19. According to sources from the regional government reported to the newspaper 'La Rioja', Brahim Ghali's admission to the San Pedro de Logroño Hospital between the months of April, May and June 2021 entailed a series of bills that no one has taken care of until now. the date. For this reason, the regional Executive is going to begin the procedures to judicially claim 45,658 euros from Brahim Ghali after having exhausted the administrative procedure to claim that payment, according to the spokesperson for the Rioja Government and Minister of the Treasury, Alfonso Domínguez. According to the spokesperson, the judicial claim is part of the usual procedures in cases in which medical care is provided to people who do not belong to the Spanish health system, although "normally, the amounts of these processes are not so high." Furthermore, the Court has powers that the Rioja Government does not have, "such as international judicial assistance," he added. Brahim Ghali landed at Zaragoza Air Base on April 18, 2021, without passing border controls or documentation, after which he was transferred in an ambulance and admitted, with a false identity, to the San Pedro de Logroño hospital to be treated for COVID -19. The then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, who always maintained that Ghali's entry was carried out for "humanitarian reasons", was dismissed just a month after these events, which caused a serious diplomatic crisis with Morocco that resulted in a massive and uncontrolled entry of immigrants into Ceuta with the complicity of Rabat, in a call for consultations from the Moroccan ambassador in Madrid and in a whole series of public accusations against Spain. The crisis was straightened out in April 2022, when the Government of Pedro Sánchez made the unexpected decision to recognize the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara. Ghali remained at the center until June 1 under the name Mohamed Benbatouche. In July 2021, the first invoice was issued in the name of Mohamed Benbatouche, but in September of the same year, due to the lack of response, the case was sent to the General Directorate of Legal Services, which confirmed the identity of Brahim Ghali. As a consequence, the Rioja Government issued a new invoice for 45,658 euros in Ghali's name. In March 2023, the General Directorate of Legal Services located the last known address of the Sahrawi leader in Madrid, which will allow the judicial claim to be opened.

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