This Monday, the trial against Yassine Kanjaa, the Moroccan accused of murdering the sacristan Diego Valencia in the La Palma church in Algeciras and of seriously injuring the priest Antonio Rodríguez—who passed away sometime later—began at the National Court during the attack carried out in January 2023. The prosecution is seeking 50 years in prison for him, considering that he acted with the intention of terrorizing Christians and that the crime should be tried as a terrorist attack.
The January 2023 attack
On January 25, 2023, Kanjaa burst into the parish armed with a large machete. After attacking the pastor of San Isidro, he went out to the La Palma church, where he chased and murdered the sacristan Diego Valencia in the middle of the public street. During the assault, according to witnesses, he shouted religious phrases of an Islamist nature. The brutality of the attack shocked the city and raised alarm across Spain, as it was an act directed against symbols of the Christian faith.
Profile of the accused: irregularity and radicalization
The investigations revealed that Kanjaa was living irregularly, had an open expulsion file, and resided in a squatted apartment in the center of Algeciras. In a few months, according to neighbors and acquaintances, he went from consuming drugs to adopting an extremist attitude marked by a process of express radicalization. These elements, along with the choice of location and victims, led Judge Joaquín Gadea of the National Court to classify the events as terrorism.
Judicial competence and classification as terrorism
The defense tried to have the case tried in the ordinary courts of Algeciras, alleging psychic alterations, but the Supreme Court ratified the competence of the National Court by considering that there were indications of ideological motivation and a desire to sow terror among Christians. The investigating judge closed the summary confirming that classification, which has allowed the oral trial to open now under the charge of terrorism.
A crime against the Catholic community
For the prosecution, the assault was not an isolated act of violence, but a deliberate action against the Christian community. The murder of the sacristan and the injuries to the priest, it argues, sought to “cause terror in those who profess the Christian religion.” That is why it demands the maximum criminal severity, which in this case translates to 50 years in prison.
What happened in Algeciras remains an unsettling reminder of how radicalism and lack of migration control can lead to deadly attacks against those who humbly serve at the heart of the Church.