A Cameroonian immigrant has been put on trial in Spain for the murder of six fellow occupants of a flimsy migrant boat because of their Christian religious beliefs.

Alain NB, the Muslim captain of an inflatable craft ferrying migrants from Morocco to the southern shore of Spain, blamed the Christian passengers for the arrival of a storm and forced the six overboard. According to some of the 29 survivors, the accused “blamed the rough seas which were rocking the boat on prayers led by a Catholic pastor on board.

According to witnesses the captain and his second in command, another Cameroonian who died in Spain before the trial began, “believed the weather worsened every time the victims prayed”.

According to the testimony, the two Cameroonian used planks of wood ripped from the boat to beat the Nigerian pastor. “They badly wounded him before throwing him overboard”, the public prosecutor wrote before the start of the trial in Almería.

According to the prosecution, the accused “was aware that the victims could not possibly survive and that they would die, either by drowning, from the cold, or from the physical injuries they had suffered. He was aware of the low temperature, the rough seas and the great distance from the coast and the absence of any nearby boats which could rescue them.”

The prosecutor has asked for a 90-year sentence; six separate terms of 15 years for murder with the aggravating factor of “religious motivation”. 29 survivors from the boat were discovered in December, 2014, by rescuers in Almería.

At least 21 died during the crossing, which was bedevilled by high winds and rough seas. Some seven babies died during the crossing. The Cameroonians were found to be carrying €1,500 in cash – the sum witnesses said they had found on their victims before they were forced overboard.

Courtesy: The Telegraph