A falsely accused man in the Burgos crime reports online falsehoods in Manresa

Youssef Abraoui, a 29-year-old taxi driver, has reported to the Mossos d'Esquadra the posts that identified him as the perpetrator of the murder of a woman in Burgos. Both young men falsely accused want to take the case to court.

Youssef Abraoui, 29-year-old taxi driver from Manresa, filed a complaint last Thursday with the Mossos d'Esquadra in that locality. The document details the platforms and profiles that spread his name as the alleged perpetrator of the murder of an 83-year-old woman in Burgos, which occurred on October 13.

The complaint describes most of those users as far-right individuals with racist and fascist rhetoric. According to the text, several accounts with many followers were key in viralising the falsehood. Abraoui provided more information to the Catalan police the following Friday.

The origin of the false narrative was a post shared on X by a profile named Álex Martínez at 15:52 on Saturday, October 17. This post replicated a news story about the arrest of two minors aged 16 and 17, but added photographs of Ahmed Benyahia and Abraoui, attributing the identities of the minors to both.

Furthermore, the message claimed that they were naturalised foreigners and pointed them out as responsible for the murder. Benyahia, a 20-year-old student from Barcelona, reported the events that same Saturday to the Mossos, who opened an investigation.

The National Police has arrested six people as alleged perpetrators of the crime, and both young men have publicly denied the accusations. Nevertheless, according to the affected individuals, the falsehood continues to circulate in countries such as Morocco, Algeria, France, and Italy, where in some cases the accusation against them remains.

Abraoui's lawyer argues that the events should be classified as a crime of defamation with publicity and as a hate crime due to racial discrimination. Neither of the two knows for certain who created the original post, although they receive tips from individuals and journalists investigating the messages.

Both young men want to take the case to court to dismantle the falsehood, identify those responsible, and report what they consider a racist attack promoted by the far-right. The complaint in Manresa is the first formal step in that direction, and the investigation by the Mossos remains open.