Rabat – A disturbing audio recording sparked uproar as it captured Spanish soldiers in the Spanish-occupied city of Ceuta laughing and boasting about beating migrants, including those from Morocco.
The audio, revealed by elDiario, a Spanish news outlet that said it obtained the recording, features a group of soldiers who described the violence in chilling detail.
The report published on Thursday said the exchange between the group of soldiers on duty in Ceuta took place while they were carrying out one of their surveillance shifts at a fixed post in the city on September 21-22.
The date is close to the mass crossing into Ceuta in July, when over 70,000 people entered the occupied city in one of the largest irregular migration events, sparking not only heightened tensions between Morocco and Spain but also complaints from Moroccans, including minors who escaped shelters due to guards’ and soldiers’ mistreatment and assaults.
The audio obtained by elDiario comes as further evidence reflecting what thousands of migrants who remain in the enclave after the return of the majority of those who entered in July, either voluntarily or through deportation, now endure. And the confession comes from Spaniards themselves.
One exchange in the recordings speaks of one of the uniformed soldiers who said that he tends to approach migrants who move backward to avoid being assaulted.
“I’m going to try to slap him, and he’ll move backward. And I said, how am I supposed to get closer?… And I tell him, ‘Take that,’” the soldier said, boasting about slapping the migrants.
The accounts also feature how soldiers sarcastically comment on the victims’ tears, with a third soldier alleging that the migrants “seem to ask” for being beaten.
“It seems like they enjoy getting beaten,” he said.
One soldier said that sometimes soldiers felt sorry for certain migrants depending on their cases.
The uniformed soldier acknowledged having spoken to migrants in “Darija,” Moroccan Arabic, about their cases.
Another soldier said that he does not listen to them, with another one joining in.
“I used to listen to them during the first two days, but if you listen to them, you’ll feel sick. Because they tell you all kinds of stories… They show you their cuts, tell you their life stories, and much of it is lies,” one soldier said while also boasting about assaulting the migrants, the Spanish news outlet reported.
The transcripts of their exchange further revealed more disturbing events that migrants have endured and continue to endure upon arriving in the enclave.
The Spanish report also transcribed one of the most disturbing parts of the recordings, in which a soldier spoke of a “test” or an “operation” carried out by colleagues belonging to another unit, specifically the Regulares Group.
The soldier said he witnessed the Regulares “enjoying themselves.”
The alleged “game” involves migrants reportedly being forced to beat one another to see who can handle pain better than the other.
The Spanish report said the punishment falls on the person delivering the blows for not hitting hard enough.
“I wanted to stay… They do some really cool things. It reminded me of the tests in Saw. Have you seen the movie Saw?” one of the soldiers said.
The conversation ends with even more brutal and disturbing remarks, with one soldier saying that the military are made to kill.
“Soldiers are made to kill. They’re not made for anything else,” he said, adding that what they are doing in the enclave is a “lie.”
Despite several accounts and complaints of assault, military associations in September filed a complaint with the Ombudsman about what they claimed was a lack of physical and legal security and resources for soldiers in Ceuta.
This comes as elDiario reported a lack of response from the Defense Ministry to its latest investigations alleging Spanish soldiers’ involvement in assaulting migrants in Ceuta.
elDiario also cited a report from Amnesty International, as well as cases in which dozens of testimonies from migrants have described assaults.
