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  • Justice: The Office of the Prosecutor raises to 86 the nursing homes investigated by the coronavirus crisis, 40 in Madrid and 20 in Catalonia

The Balearic Prosecutor's Office has closed the investigation that it opened at the end of April on possible crimes in the management of nursing homes during the coronavirus crisis. Thus, it expressly shelves the criminal investigation proceedings that it initiated as a result of a complaint filed by the Vox political party.

In it, the Public Ministry was instructed to clarify responsibilities for the high mortality registered in the elderly centers of the Balearic archipelago, where more than 35% of deaths have been registered, 84 in total. In fact, the Balearic Government was forced in April to intervene two residences due to the high number of infections and mortality.

Vox demanded that the health management of these centers and the conditions in which their inmates have been cared for be investigated, and also that official records of deaths in the residences be checked to find out if deaths have been hidden or attributed to causes other than the Covid-19. It was a generic complaint and presented in the same terms in all the provincial prosecutors' offices in Spain.

Unlike other regions where investigating these complaints was ruled out outright on the grounds of lack of motivation, the Balearic Prosecutor's Office opened proceedings, but the file will not even go to court.

"Imprecise" complaint

As explained by the Balearic Superior Prosecutor, Bartomeu Barceló , the complaint was imprecise and did not contain data or specific facts that would allow crimes to be deduced. "It was a generic complaint and it cannot be investigated without more detailed facts," said Barceló, who nevertheless gathered information from the Police and the Civil Guard before decreeing the order to archive a few days ago.

The head of the Balearic prosecutors has also explained, to questions from this newspaper, that in the midst of a health crisis and without evidence of crime, they did not want to hinder the work of the health workers involved in the management of centers for the elderly. If new detailed complaints were filed, the procedure would begin.

The only action that the Islands Prosecutor's Office is currently keeping alive is a double request for information from two centers in Ibiza , a civil preventive measure in case of economic responsibilities, but not to prosecute specific crimes.

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