Maradona medical team on trial four years after football icon's death

Maradona medical team on trial four years after football icon's death

Seven medical staff who treated Argentine football legend Diego Maradona in the days before his death went on trial Tuesday accused of homicide.

Maradona died on November 25, 2020, aged 60, while recovering at home from brain surgery for a blood clot, after decades battling cocaine and alcohol addictions.  

The defendants risk prison terms between eight and 25 years if convicted on the charge of "homicide with possible intent" -- allegedly for pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to the former footballer's death.

Outside the court, dozens of fans of the footballer gathered Tuesday, waving banners calling for "justice" and singing songs in honor of the fallen star.

"Thank you all for coming," Veronica Ojeda, Maradona's former partner and mother of one of his sons, 12-year-old Dieguito, told the crowd as she fought back tears.

Maradona's older daughters, Dalma and Gianinna, entered the building without saying anything to the press or supporters.

In an opening statement Tuesday, the prosecution said it intends to submit "solid" evidence that no member of the team "did what they were supposed to do" in the "horror theater" that was Maradona's deathbed.

"That's how Maradona died," prosecutor Patricio Ferrari told the court, holding up a photo of Maradona shortly after his death, lying on his back in bed with a swollen abdomen.

- 'Totally deficient' -

Maradona was found dead two weeks after going under the knife, in a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighborhood where he was brought after being discharged from hospital.

He was found to have died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema, a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs.

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 presidential palace.

Nearly 120 witnesses, including members of Maradona's family and doctors who tended to him over the years, are expected to take the stand in the long-delayed trial in the Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro.

The hearings are expected to run until July.

The defendants in the case are a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a medical coordinator, a nursing coordinator, a doctor and the night nurse.

The day nurse who found Maradona dead is to be tried by jury separately.

Prosecutors have accused his medical team of pushing for Maradona to receive home care, which proved "reckless" and "totally deficient."

They allege the footballer was abandoned to his fate for a "prolonged, agonizing period" before his death.

- 'Justice for Diego' -

A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina's public prosecutor concluded in 2021 that Maradona "would have had a better chance of survival" with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.

The house where he was being cared for notably had no defibrillator.

Maradona's family claim that leaked audio and text messages among the team show the star's health was in imminent danger.

Mario Baudry, a lawyer for the family, said the messages showed the carers' strategy was to ensure Maradona's daughters did not intervene "because if they did, they (the medical staff) would lose their money."

The accused all deny responsibility for the star's death.

In the La Paternal neighborhood of Buenos Aires where the player nicknamed "El Pibe de Oro" (The Golden Boy) revealed his prodigious talent as a player for Argentinos Juniors in the 1970s, graffiti urging "Justice for Diego!" was daubed on walls ahead of the trial. 

"All society needs to know... what really happened, who abandoned him... and whoever is responsible must pay the price," pensioner Hilda Pereira told AFP on Monday.

Maradona "did not deserve to die as he died, alone," she added, her voice quavering.

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Originally published as Maradona medical team on trial four years after football icon's death