The trial into the circumstances surrounding the death of legendary footballer and national icon Diego Maradona will begin on June 4, a court in San Isidro has ruled.
Eight healthcare professionals will be in the dock for their alleged role in the star’s death in November 2020. Charged with “simple homicide with malice aforethought,” the accused face up to 25 years behind bars if convicted.
The eight include Maradona’s neurosurgeon and family doctor Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni, nurses Ricardo Almirón and Gisella Madrid, psychologist Carlos Díaz, medical coordinator Nancy Forlini and clinician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna.
Prosecutors say Maradona’s death was a result of "omissions" by his caregivers who abandoned him "to his fate" during the last weeks of his life after undergoing surgery for a subdural haematoma. He could’ve been saved, they will tell the court.
More than 200 witnesses will appear before the court to give testimony in a trial that is expected to last several months.
Judges leading Oral Criminal Court No. 3 of San Isidro ruled this week that the trial should take place three days a week and that proceedings should include an inspection visit to the house in Tigre where Maradona died.
They also agreed to allow the submission of a new expert medical report into the case-file presented by the defence. To date, the only expert medical opinion included was one that determined that care had been “inadequate, reckless and deficient.”
However, the judges rejected a motion for the defence to be tried by jury.
Maradona, Argentina’s greatest and most famous footballer, died aged 60 on November 25, 2020, while recovering from brain surgery for a brain haematoma caused by a household accident.
An autopsy ruled the 1986 World Cup winner had expired from “an acute lung oedema secondary to acute/chronic heart disease.” He was also found to have had “dilated cardiomyopathy.”
‘El Diez' – who for decades had struggled with cocaine and alcohol addictions – was found dead in bed two weeks after going under the knife, in a rented house in a private neighbourhood of San Andrés, to where he was brought after being discharged from hospital.
A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina's public prosecutor concluded in 2021 that Maradona's treatment was rife with "deficiencies and irregularities." It said the footballer "would have had a better chance of survival" with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.
Experts found his caregivers had abandoned the retired footballer and coach to his fate for a "prolonged, agonising period" leading up to his death.
Among the evidence gathered by prosecutors are some 130,000 WhatsApp audio messages that involve many of the accused and that date back to the period when Maradona was alive.
The former player had been admitted to a clinic in La Plata on November 2, 2020, for anaemia and dehydration, and one day later he was referred to another clinic in Olivos, where underwent an operation for a subdural haematoma.
At the time of his death, Maradona was the head coach of Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, a role he had taken on in September 2019.
His children – Dalma, Giannina, Jana, Diego Fernando and Diego Junior – initiated proceedings with the justice system due to the irregularities surrounding their father’s death.
– TIMES/PERFIL
Comments