On Friday, November 28, the National Court acquitted the man who murdered sacristan Diego Valencia and injured the vicar of the Parish of Our Lady of La Palma in Algeciras on January 25, 2023. The court considers it proven that the accused, Yassine Kanjaa, acted under a schizophrenic condition with an “acute psychotic decompensation” that completely annulled his mental faculties, so the Chamber ordered his internment in a psychiatric penitentiary center for a maximum of 30 years.
The trial that had begun on October 6 with a request for 50 years in prison by the Prosecutor's Office for facts classifiable as terrorism concluded in the form of the Moroccan's mental alteration.
In the civil sphere, the sentence establishes compensations for the victims, although it does so in terms that hardly compensate for the magnitude of the damage caused. The Chamber recognizes the widow of Diego Valencia a reparation of 150,000 euros and grants each of his two children a compensation of 50,000 euros, while the family of the injured vicar will receive 17,000 euros.
Total alteration of mental faculties
The sentence of the First Section details that the expert reports conclude that the accused suffered a disorder “of schizophrenic filiation”, with messianic-type delusional ideation and persecutory prejudices. The psychotic crisis, the forensic doctors point out, annulled his intellectual and volitional capacities, fitting into the complete exemption of article 20.1 of the Penal Code.
The court holds that the defendant could not understand the unlawfulness of his acts nor act in accordance with that understanding. Therefore, although it recognizes that he committed crimes of consummated murder, attempted murder, injuries, and interruption of religious ceremony, he was exempt from criminal responsibility.
The court rules out terrorism
The magistrates exclude the terrorist qualification. They reason that this criminal type requires causing “a serious alteration of public peace” or “a state of terror in the population”, elements incompatible—according to the Chamber—with the serious psychiatric condition presented by the accused.
Facts such as bursting into a parish armed with a machete, attacking the priest, chasing and murdering sacristan Diego Valencia in the middle of the public street, and shouting Islamist religious phrases are not considered “a serious alteration of public peace”. On the contrary, the attack was the result of his “delusional ideation of prejudices and messianic”, acting as “the chosen one” against those he considered “possessed”.
Internment due to dangerousness and lack of awareness of the harm
Although exempt from criminal responsibility, the court applies the most severe security measure provided: internment in a psychiatric penitentiary facility for a maximum equivalent to the penalty that would have corresponded, in this case 30 years. The Chamber emphasizes that the accused shows no awareness of the harm or remorse, which implies high dangerousness.
A dissenting vote in favor of considering the facts as terrorism
Only the magistrate Carolina Rius issued a dissenting vote that defends the idea that the defendant's mental alteration does not prevent qualifying the facts as terrorism. According to her criterion, recognizing it as a terrorist act would allow activating the legal framework for victim protection included in the Ley 29/2011, granting the corresponding support and assistance.