Argentina starts trial over death of soccer icon

Argentina began a long-awaited trial on Tuesday of the medical team for soccer star Diego Maradona, over four years after his death in 2020, in a case that has riled emotions in the South American country where the FIFA World Cup winner is still revered.

Maradona’s family, lawyers and his former nurses, brain surgeon and psychiatrist accused of homicide by negligence, arrived at the court on the outskirts of the capital city Buenos Aires in what promises to be a drama-filled and lengthy saga.

Outside the San Isidro appeals court, fans held up placards with the message “Justice for D10S,” using a nickname based on Diego Maradona’s shirt number and the Spanish word for God.

“They killed him, and today they will have to deal with it here,” Maradona fan Sergio Gimenez said outside the court.

Maradona, immortalised in Argentina in huge murals and tattoos, is considered one of the greatest soccer players ever.

Seven members of the medical team are due in court in a trial expected to last several months. An eighth member faces a trial by jury in July.

Diego Maradona died at home in November 2020 from heart failure at age 60 while recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot days earlier. His medical team reject the charges of “simple homicide with eventual intent” in the treatment of the former Boca Juniors and Napoli player.

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Prosecutors read out the indictment to a packed courtroom that included Maradona’s ex-wife and several of his children, where they described the conditions of care received by the late star as “calamitous, reckless, deficient, unprecedented.”

They alleged that protocols were broken by medical professionals and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery was described as a “theater of horror” where nobody did what was required.

The defense lawyer for neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque said that home hospitalisation was agreed between doctors and Diego Maradona’s relatives. There was no wrongdoing because Maradona died from an “unforeseeable” cardiac event, lawyer Mara Digiuni added.

“New evidence proves that there is no criminal responsibility for Maradona’s death on the part of any of the accused,” lawyer for psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov told reporters on entering the court.

If convicted, those accused could face prison sentences of between eight and 25 years.

Maradona’s death rocked the South American nation where he was revered for leading Argentina to FIFA World Cup glory in 1986, prompting an outpouring of grief and finger-pointing over who was to blame after Maradona’s years-long battle with drug addiction and ill health.

More than 100 witness testimonies are due to be presented to the three-judge court, ranging from family members and doctors to friends and journalists.

Investigators classified the case in 2021 as culpable homicide, a crime similar to involuntary manslaughter, because they determined the accused were aware of the seriousness of the soccer legend’s health condition and failed to take the necessary measures to save him.

“There are more than enough elements to prove that Diego was not treated properly,” said Mario Baudry, lawyer for one of Maradona’s sons who together with other family members brought the case forward to reporters.

“Let’s hope that justice is done, that’s what we all want,” the lawyer added.

Those standing trial include psychiatrist Cosachov, neurosurgeon Luque, psychologist Carlos Ángel Díaz, doctor Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almirón, the chief nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni and clinical physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna.

An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried separately in July, local media reported.