The Audiencia Provincial de Madrid has rejected grouping into a macro-case the judicial investigations into the deaths in residences during the COVID-19 pandemic, a decision that directly affects the management of the regional Government presided over by Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The court considers that there is no necessary conexity to instruct the cases jointly.
In the order the Chamber dismisses the appeal filed by a relative of a victim and the Public Prosecutor's Office against the decision adopted on August 27, 2025 by an investigating court of Madrid. In this way, it is confirmed that the different complaints will follow their course separately in different judicial bodies.
The magistrates maintain that, although in several cases some investigated parties coincide —such as the former high-ranking officials of the regional Government Carlos Mur, Francisco Javier Martínez Peromingo and Pablo Busca—, in other procedures different responsible parties appear, which prevents a unified investigation.
Furthermore, the Chamber emphasizes that the “passive subjects are different”, that is, the victims presented different pathologies and situations, which obliges to analyze each case individually. “It is essential to examine the specific circumstances in each case”, points out the judicial order.
The court also argues that, from a practical point of view, a mega-case would not facilitate the process, but would complicate it. According to the judges, the accumulation of multiple complaints and denunciations “would add more complexity, would further delay the procedure and would prevent a more thorough analysis of each specific case.”
The request to unify the cases had been promoted by victims' relatives, associations, and the Prosecutor's Office, who defended that a mega-case would allow addressing the facts globally and avoiding contradictory resolutions. However, the Audiencia itself had previously shown itself to be against this option.
The origin of many of these investigations is found in the protocols approved by the Comunidad de Madrid, known as the "protocols of shame", during the first weeks of the pandemic, which established criteria for referring, or not, residents to hospitals based on their state of health, dependency or cognitive impairment.
