The San Isidro court trying the medical team of late football legend Diego Maradona over his death suspended proceedings on Tuesday for a week after complaints about one of the judges hearing the case.
The court ordered the suspension after defense lawyers said that the judge's involvement in a documentary about the case constituted a possible breach of her duty of impartiality, as well as possible influence-peddling and even bribery.
Prosecutor Patricio Ferrari said the pause was ordered "to resolve an issue ...of institutional gravity."
The request for a suspension, which could even lead to the annulment of the trial, relates to the alleged use of cameras during the hearings.
The lawyers had earlier asked for the same judge, Julieta Makintach, to be recused from the two-month-old trial.
At issue is the alleged use of cameras in the courtroom in violation of a ban on filming the trial.
The prosecutor's office will investigate whether the rule was broken and what part, if any, Makintach played in the transgression.
Makintach told the court Tuesday that she could "understand the concerns of all."
"But I am convinced of my impartiality," she said, adding that she would consider recusing herself from the case if there were doubts over the matter.
The magistrate said that "to file a complaint against a judge, you must have well-founded grounds" because "institutions are at risk."
Another of the three magistrates overseeing the case, Maximiliano Savarino, ordered that all defendants be present for the next hearing on May 27.
The presiding judge, Maximiliano Savarino, said the trial would resume on May 27, "so that all parties can be heard."
A judicial source said that all the defendants in the trial had been ordered to appear on that judge.
"The possibility of annulling the trial will also be analysed, something that does not seem likely to happen but is not totally ruled out. The judges have to see everything that is in the criminal complaint in progress, based on the evidence they will decide," said the source.
Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at the age of 60, while recovering at home from brain surgery for a blood clot.
His seven-person medical team is on trial for what prosecutors have described as the “horror theatre” of his care in the final days of his life, at a private residence in the Greater Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre.
Maradona died of heart failure and acute pulmonary oedema – a condition in which fluid builds up in the lungs – just weeks after undergoing surgery.
Doctors at the Clínica Olivos performed successful neurosurgery on the former footballer two weeks before he died.
He had battled cocaine and alcohol addiction for decades before he passed.
Seven defendants risk prison terms between eight and 25 years if convicted of homicide with possible intent (dolo eventual) – pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to death.
An eighth defendant, nurse Gisela Madrid, will be tried separately.
Prosecutors have described the football icon's care in his last days as grossly negligent.
Testifying in court last week, Maradona's daughter Gianinna accused her father's carers of keeping him in "a dark, ugly and lonely" place and said they seemed more interested in money than his welfare.
So far only one of the defendants, Maradona's psychiatrist, has been called to the stand.
The passing of the star of the 1986 World Cup plunged Argentina into mourning in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tens of thousands of people queued to bid farewell to the former Boca Juniors and Napoli striker as his body lay in state at the Casa Rosada presidential palace.
– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL
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