The National Court admits a complaint against the Hamas leadership of the father of the Spanish woman murdered in the attack on Israel

The judge of the National Court Maria Tardon has admitted to processing a complaint against eight members of the Hamas leadership filed by the father of Maya Villalobothe young Spanish woman who was murdered in the attacks perpetrated against Israel on October 7, 2023.

This is stated in an order from the titular magistrate of the Central Court of Instruction number 3 which indicates that the legal representation of the victim’s family accuses the leadership of the crime of terrorism. Tardón has agreed to this admission for processing in accordance with the criteria of the Prosecutor’s Office and agrees to add it to the proceedings already opened in this judicial body on October 11 to investigate the death of the young woman and another Spaniard, Iván Illarramendi, And his wife.

Regarding the possible attribution of the status of being investigated to the members of the Hamas leadership, their possible summons to testify and the adoption of measures aimed at their arrest, something that the accusation requested, Tardón has decided to wait for the result of the commission rogatory sent to Israel in the proceedings that are already open.

In five pages, the magistrate explains that the admission of the complaint is appropriate since the young woman’s father claims to have been aggrieved by facts for which the Spanish jurisdiction is competent.

However, remember that the complainant is fully aware that a criminal case is already being pursued in court due to these same facts, in which he has been involved since January, so the admission of the complaint will not give rise to the initiation of a new procedure, but will be added to the one already opened, as established by the Criminal Procedure Law.

It was in February 2024 when the judge, who was already investigating the death of the Spaniards Iván Illarramendi and Maya Villalobo in the terrorist attack, agreed to ask Israel to provide all the information it had collected in relation to the authorship of the events, as well as the report relating to the claim for the attack.

In that order, Tardón explained that the Civil Guard reports that the prosecutor of the case collected in his request to file the case framed what happened in a context of “informational uncertainty typical of the type of violent actions and war scenarios.” And he pointed out that this could make it “unfeasible to obtain greater clarification of the facts (…) and determine their specific authorship.”

But despite this, the magistrate pointed out that she had to take into account, as raised by the private accusations brought forward in this case, that “the right to information constitutes one of the basic rights of the victim of crime”, as it comes included in the Victim Statute.

This, he pointed out, “must lead this instruction to the exhaustion of all investigative possibilities”, gathering whatever information could be provided in this regard “from the judicial authorities that could be competent in Israel, in whose territory the events took place.”

Prosecutor’s Report

And all this, Tardón added, without prejudice to the fact that the dismissal requested by the Prosecutor’s Office would finally have to be agreed if a positive result was not obtained regarding the circumstances in which the deaths of the Spanish citizens occurred, as well as their possible responsibility.

This report from the Prosecutor’s Office requesting the dismissal of the case was presented on December 1, 2023 after receiving a police report in which it was stated that everything indicated that the two deaths occurred due to the terrorist action of Hamas.

Tardón, however, agreed to issue a request for judicial assistance in criminal matters to the Israeli authorities “in order for them to provide information related to the investigation (…) including an expert report or judicial dossier prepared by the Israeli Prosecutor’s Office that explain the causes and circumstances of the death” of the Spaniards and the wife of one of them.

It also expressly requested that Israel “submit the report prepared (…) on the authorship of the events and relating to the claim of the attack (…) by the terrorist organization Hamas.”

Research secret

It was last October when the National Court agreed to the secrecy of the investigation into the death of Maya Villalobo and what at that time was considered the kidnapping of Iván Illarramendi after the attacks perpetrated in the State of Israel and in the Palestinian territories of Loop and West Bank.

Tardón accepted the case upon understanding that the National Court was the competent court to investigate these events. It should be remembered that Villalobo was providing military service in the Israeli forces as he held dual nationality, and that Illarramendi, 46 years old, resided in the kibbutz. Kissufimnear Gaza.

The latter disappeared along with his wife, a Chilean national, whom the magistrate also agreed to include in the investigation. But last November it was confirmed that both were murdered by Hamas during the terrorist attack on October 7 and at no time were they kidnapped, according to what Israeli diplomatic sources told Europa Press. The bodies of both were identified just a month after the terrorist attack.

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