The much-anticipated criminal trial of eight medical professionals and nurses accused of manslaughter through eventual intent due to their negligence in the death of Argentine footballer Diego Maradona has been postponed until October to avoid future nullities, at the request of the family of the global football legend.
The trial for the death of Diego Armando Maradona was set to commence next week, specifically on 4 June, but the Third Criminal Trial Court (TOC) of San Isidro, Buenos Aires Province, rescheduled the hearing for October, due to multiple requests from different family members.
Maradona passed away in November 2020 at the age of 60 while recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot, after decades of battling drug addictions, while serving as head coach of the Argentine first division football club, Gimnasia y Esgrima (La Plata).
The former World Cup champion and runner-up with the Argentine national team in 1986 and 1990 was found dead in bed two weeks after surgery, in a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighbourhood where he had been brought after being discharged from hospital under the guise of voluntary discharge supervised by medical professionals.
This was resolved in the past hours by the Third Criminal Trial Court of San Isidro, composed of judges Verónica Di Tommaso, Maximiliano Savarino and Julieta Makintach, in charge of the trial, who also decided not to transfer the Argentine’s body to a mausoleum in Puerto Madero (located in the city of Buenos Aires), where the family wanted his remains to rest so that the Argentine people could pay tribute to him if they wished (he is currently in a private cemetery inaccessible to visitors).
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Last April, an Argentine appeals court confirmed that neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, and six others, including nurses, would stand trial in the case that clarifies the responsibility for Maradona’s death, rejecting an appeal.
On Wednesday, a court suspended the trial, which was set to begin next Tuesday, until 1 October, stating that there were “a series of issues… that need to be resolved before the start of the hearings.”
Prosecutors have accused the eight medical professionals of providing “reckless” and “deficient” home treatment to Maradona.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office seeks to bring eight individuals to trial: neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, psychologist Carlos Díaz, Nancy Forlini, Mariano Perroni, nurse Ricardo Almirón, physician Pedro Di Spagna, and Madrid, who have been indicated as possible co-perpetrators of Maradona’s homicide and are accused of committing the alleged crime.
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 appropriate treatment in a suitable medical facility, something he did not have in the house where he received home care from the attending physicians.
The suspension was due to the request of the lawyers of Dalma and Giannina Maradona (matrimonial daughters along with Claudia Villafañe) by lawyers Fernando Burlando and Fabián Améndola, who had requested the suspension of the trial’s start because they “noted that, with pending technical nature claims involving constitutional issues, which could affect the course of any trial initiated in these conditions and with the aim of avoiding future nullifying claims, the request for suspension of the hearing scheduled for 4 June 2024, and its rescheduling for when the pending recusal and jury trial claims are definitively resolved.”
The procedural situation of nurse Gisella Madrid is one of the main reasons for the postponement. On 2 May, the Court of Appeals accepted a request from her defence for her to be tried by a jury trial (something uncommon and exceptional in Argentina).
This has created a confusing situation in which at least one accused wants a jury trial, while the others prefer a trial with technical judges. How will this be resolved? It is still unknown. In Argentina, two trials for the same fact cannot be held, so the Buenos Aires Court of Appeals will define the situation (something that was not going to happen before 4 June, which prompted the suspension).
Regarding the investigation itself, the case was brought to trial on 22 June of last year by the Tigre Guarantees Judge Orlando Díaz, who stated in his extensive Resolution that the accused “From the place they specifically occupied in the global configuration of the event under consideration, they would have exercised co-dominance of the fact, deciding about its integral occurrence, based on the contributions made by each of them in the fatal outcome, all of them essential for the achievement of the reached result.”
In April 2022, prosecutors Capra, Iribarren, and Ferrari had presented the opinion requesting that the eight accused individuals be subjected to an oral and public trial for simple manslaughter with eventual intent.
“As representatives of the Public Ministry, we have certainties and are in a position to affirm that the individuals mentioned in this request have had criminal responsibility in the death of Mr. Diego Armando Maradona, according to the provisional nature required by this procedural stage,” concluded the representatives of the Public Ministry.
As everything in the life of the greatest footballer who played in Argentine football (and for many worldwide), nothing can go by the normal or ordinary routes, not even after being deceased for 3 and a half years. Even after his death, his life continues to be a media novel from which the star could never escape.