A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona is to begin today, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide about a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina — from towering murals to tattoos — Maradona died on Nov. 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, would hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 FIFA World Cup champion.
Photo: AFP
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, would be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started in March last year, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial would require prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theater of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
If convicted, the defendants could face prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years.
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