The long-awaited murder trial over the death of football icon Diego Maradona has finally begun in Argentina. Seven members of the “hand of God” player’s medical team face charges of homicide by negligence in what promises to be a lengthy and drama-filled trial before three judges. An eighth defendant, a nurse, faces a trial by jury in July.
Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Maradona, 60, was found dead at his home in November 2020 from heart failure while still recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot just days earlier. News of his death shocked his home country where he was revered for leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986, and was commemorated by three days of national mourning as many thousands of people queuing for hours to walk by his coffin at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires.
It prompted an outpouring of grief and finger-pointing over who was to blame after the player’s long battle with drug addiction and ill health.
That feeling has barely abated after four-and-a-half years and a throng of fans carrying placards reading “Justice for D10S” – Maradona’s nickname based on his shirt number and the Spanish word for God – surrounded San Isidro appeals court on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
“They killed him and today they will have to deal with it here,” said fan Sergio Gimenez.
Prosecutors read out a lengthy indictment to a packed courtroom that included Maradona’s ex-wife and several of his children, describing the home as a “theatre of horror” and the conditions of care he received as “calamitous, reckless, deficient, unprecedented.”
Investigators classified the case in 2021 as culpable homicide, similar to involuntary manslaughter, having determined the accused were aware of the seriousness of Maradona’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, waged a year-long campaign to pressured authorities for a prosecution “Let’s hope that justice is done, that’s what we all want,”
Maradona’s medical team reject accusations that their treatment of the former Boca Juniors and Napoli player led to his death, saying that he had refused further treatment and should have stayed in hospital for longer after his operation.
Defence lawyers for neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque say that the decision to treat Maradona at home was made between his doctors and Maradona’s relatives, and argue that he died from an “unforeseeable” cardiac event.
More than 100 witness testimonies are due to be presented to the court, ranging from family members and doctors to friends and journalists.
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 – as well as nurse Dahiana Madrid – face prison sentences of between 8-25 years if convicted.