A statue of Christopher Columbus with an extended hand is seen in front of a Spanish flag in central Madrid, June 11, 2012 (Reuters / Paul Hanna)
Madrid: A lawyer representing the family of an Algerian man who died in a Spanish jail used as a migrant centre on Friday slammed the "speed" in which a judge dropped a probe into his apparent suicide.
The news comes as Algerian prosecutors opened their own investigation into the contentious death of Mohamed Bouderbala, 36, who was found hanged on December 29 in his cell in the Archidona prison in southern Spain.
The use of this new jail as a so-called CIE, a centre where migrants are held pending asylum claims after they arrive in Spain, has drawn controversy.
Activists and lawyers say migrants are held at night in cells when they should be able to move about freely, guarded by riot police while CIEs are normally staffed by regular agents.
The interior ministry did not answer several requests for comment.
Bouderbala had been placed in isolation for around 18 hours before he was found dead, according to a court document and Amanda Romero, the lawyer representing his family, although it is unclear why.
An autopsy revealed he "hanged himself with a sheet," police said, but his brother Ahmed, who was in daily contact with him, disputes the assertion that his brother was suicidal.
In his ruling seen by AFP, the judge said surveillance cameras revealed no one went into Bouderbala's cell from the moment he entered.
He added that no one was seen in the area for most of that time.
That, he concluded, ruled out the presence of witnesses beyond security cameras or that anyone else was involved in his death.
But Romero said "the speed in which the investigating judge closed the case is surprising."
She said she and another party taking the case to court had put forward two witnesses who have "versions that could contradict official ones," refusing to give further details.
But she said the court itself had not questioned any potential witnesses, merely basing itself on the camera footage, autopsy and police report.
Romero added that even if a detailed probe concluded Bouderbala committed suicide, "this wouldn't necessarily mean there is no criminal liability, because we're talking about a person who was deprived of his freedom and under police custody."
Activist groups regularly accuse Spain of flouting the rights of migrants.
According to the International Organization for Migration, migrant arrivals by sea to Spain tripled in 2017 on the previous year, with some 21,500 people coming to shore.
