The Audiencia Nacional has inaugurated a permanent beachfront branch in Ceuta, a concrete-and-glass complex built directly on the shore where the late-July migrant arrivals took place, so that investigating judge María Tardón can open proceedings while the salt water is still drying on the evidence.
The three-story building, finished in eleven days by a crew of six hundred, features a dock for intercepted vessels, a drying room for soggy documents, and a courtroom with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the very stretch of sea where the events occurred. Judge Tardón has reportedly requested a rotating schedule that places her on the terrace whenever a boat is sighted, allowing her to issue a first ruling before the passengers have stepped onto dry land.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has responded by stationing a ministry liaison in a floating office one hundred meters offshore, from which he shouts jurisdictional objections through a megaphone. The Sala de Gobierno of the Audiencia Nacional answered by installing an external speaker system that plays its legal reasoning at full volume during high tide.
«We are not interfering with national security,» a court spokesman said, adjusting his sunglasses. «We are simply bringing the judicial process to the point of entry, so that every arrival receives the full attention of the law before the sand has been shaken from the life jackets.»
Next week, the court will begin offering same-day hearings for boat pilots, with a mobile unit that follows intercepted vessels along the coast to ensure no journey concludes without a preliminary ruling.