Spain criminal court case: industrial agriculture and the pollution of the Mar Menor

Summary

On 20 May 2026, the Mar Menor lagoon appeared before the Investigating Court no. 4 in Cartagena for the first time as a victim and private prosecutor in a criminal case known as “Topillo.” The lagoon exercised its legal personality to defend its rights and seek compensation for the environmental damage caused by pollution from industrial agriculture.

Due to the illness of the lead environmental expert from the Institute of Legal Medicine of Valencia, the court proceedings were adjourned (sine die)(‘without a date’).

Criminal charges and civil damages
A seven-year prison sentence is being sought for a businessman from two agricultural companies, along with €506,137.44 in civil damages, over alleged environmental crimes committed between 2015 and 2017. According to the investigation, more than 162,000 cubic metres of nitrate-contaminated wastewater were discharged by the two companies into the ground, impacting the Mar Menor’s fragile marine ecosystem. To compensate for the environmental damage caused, €506,137.44 in civil damages has been claimed.

Legal representation
Mar Menor was legally represented before the Court by several environmental organizations – the Asociación Alianza Mar Menor (AMARME), the Comisión Promotora de la Iniciativa Legislativa Popular (ILP) para el Reconocimiento de la Personalidad Jurídica del Mar Menor, Ecologistas en Acción Región de Murcia, Greenpeace España, Pacto por el Mar Menor and the Sociedad Española de Ornitología (SEO) / Birdlife – as well as the municipalities of Los Alcázares, San Javier, Cartagena, and Murcia.

The Mar Menor’s appearance in the proceedings followed an order issued by Investigating Court No. 4 in September 2023. Pursuant to Law 19/2022 of 30 September (“Mar Menor Act”), for the purpose of safeguarding the rights of the Mar Menor that may have been affected by the actions of the persons under investigation, and in accordance with Article 782.2 of the Spanish Criminal Procedure Act (LECrim), the court ordered that notice of the right to bring civil and/or criminal actions be given to the legal entity Mar Menor, through its Committee of Representatives established under Article 3 of the Mar Menor Act. The court further ordered that, pursuant to Article 6 of the Mar Menor Act, notice of the right to bring actions also be given to environmental NGOs and municipalities, granting them a common period of fifteen days to enter an appearance in the proceedings on behalf of Mar Menor and, where appropriate, to assert any claims.

Background
Over the last decade, environmental scientists have warned of the progressive degradation of the Mar Menor lagoon. Periods of eutrophication—a process in which a body of water becomes excessively enriched with nutrients—have become increasingly frequent. In 2016, the once-blue waters of the Mar Menor turned into what was widely described as a “green soup.” Algal blooms caused by eutrophication of the lagoon’s ecosystem led to mass die-offs of fish and crustaceans in 2019 and again in 2021.

An investigation into these eutrophication events by the Nature Protection Service of the Spanish Civil Guard (SEPRONA) uncovered a clandestine network of illegal underground wells and unauthorized desalination plants. Seventy-nine agricultural companies are accused of having used these installations to extract groundwater without permits and of discharging toxic wastewater (brine) with high concentrations of nitrates into the Mar Menor, a wetland of international importance protected under the Ramsar Convention.

The Mar Menor lagoon is a biodiversity hotspot and provides vital habitat for migratory birds and supports a rich diversity of marine life.

Involved Organizations

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