{"id":478537,"date":"2025-10-06T17:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T17:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/478537\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T17:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T17:08:12","slug":"trial-opens-in-spain-for-moroccan-accused-of-2023-church-machete-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/478537\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial Opens in Spain for Moroccan Accused of 2023 Church Machete Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rabat \u2013 The trial of Moroccan national Yassine Kanjaa, accused of carrying out a deadly machete attack in two churches in southern Spain, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sudouest.fr\/international\/europe\/espagne\/espagne-ouverture-du-proces-pour-terrorisme-apres-le-meurtre-d-un-sacristain-a-la-machette-en-2023-26228043.php\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">began<\/a> today in Madrid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The case, which shocked the country in January 2023, is being heard before Spain\u2019s National Court, the country\u2019s top criminal jurisdiction for terrorism cases.<\/p>\n<p>According to prosecutors, on January 25, 2023, Kanjaa armed himself with a \u201clarge machete\u201d and first attacked a 20-year-old student in the street. He then entered San Isidro Church during evening mass, where he seriously injured a priest, striking him in the neck.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after, he <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moroccoworldnews.com\/2023\/02\/36017\/i-see-demons-algeciras-church-attack-perpetrator-undergoes-psychiatric-assessment\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">moved<\/a> to a second church, where he chased down and killed the sacristan, inflicting fatal blows to the head and neck.<\/p>\n<p>Kanjaa then attempted to enter a third church but found its doors locked before being apprehended by police moments later.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutor\u2019s office is seeking a 50-year prison sentence, charging Kanjaa with one count of terrorist murder and two counts of attempted terrorist murder.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The indictment asserts that in the months leading up to the attack, the accused underwent a process of radicalization, adopting \u201cthe most extreme Islamic theories\u201d that advocate violence against other religions.<\/p>\n<p>Although psychological assessments found psychotic symptoms and a \u201cprobable schizophrenia,\u201d the prosecution concluded that his mental illness did not completely impair his understanding of his actions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kanjaa, who had no prior criminal record, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moroccoworldnews.com\/2023\/01\/36795\/morocco-has-not-received-expulsion-request-for-spains-church-attacks-perpetrator\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">entered<\/a> Spain irregularly and was reportedly under an expulsion order at the time of the attack.<\/p>\n<p>The trial, which will continue through Wednesday, began with testimony from witnesses on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Police officers and forensic experts are expected to testify on Tuesday, followed by the defendant\u2019s own appearance before the court on the final day.<\/p>\n<p>The attacks in Algeciras, in Spain\u2019s Andalusia region, sparked widespread outrage and renewed debate over radicalization and immigration controls in Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabat \u2013 The trial of Moroccan national Yassine Kanjaa, accused of carrying out a deadly machete attack in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5312],"tags":[158924,158925,2000,299,158926,104],"class_list":["post-478537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-algeciras-church-attacks","tag-church-attack","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-moroccan-trial","tag-spain"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115328326520249033","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}