The Second Section of the Provincial Court of Palma judges from Monday a man accused of skippering a boat that last March landed in Formentera with 13 immigrants. The Prosecutor’s Office, which considers that the accused organized the trip together with other people who have not been identified, asks for him a sentence of five years in prison as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against the rights of foreign citizens. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in its indictment, the boat that the accused allegedly skippered, four meters long and with a 40 horsepower engine, left the coasts of Algeria on the night of March 18 and arrived in Formentera around 7 p.m. the following day, where 13 people disembarked, all of Algerian nationality. However, their initial intention was to reach the mainland, but they failed because they did not have enough fuel. They also had no food, safety or rescue equipment, so the Prosecutor considers that the skipper put the life and integrity of the passengers at risk. The Prosecutor’s Office requests that, in case of conviction, the prison sentence be commuted to expulsion from Spanish territory of the accused, who has no previous record and has been in provisional prison since three days after his arrival in Formentera.
