Seven medical employees who handled Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona within the days earlier than his loss of life went on trial Tuesday accused of murder. Maradona died on November 25, 2020, aged 60, whereas recovering at residence from mind surgical procedure for a blood clot, after many years battling cocaine and alcohol addictions. The defendants danger jail phrases between eight and 25 years if convicted on the cost of “murder with doable intent” — allegedly for pursuing a plan of action regardless of figuring out it may result in the previous footballer’s loss of life. Outside the courtroom, dozens of followers 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 accomplice and mom of one in every of his sons, 12-year-old Dieguito, advised the gang as she fought again tears. Maradona’s older daughters, Dalma and Gianinna, entered the constructing with out saying something to the press or supporters.
In a gap assertion Tuesday, the prosecution stated it intends to submit “stable” proof that no member of the staff “did what they had been speculated to do” within the “horror theater” that was Maradona’s deathbed.
“That’s how Maradona died,” prosecutor Patricio Ferrari advised the courtroom, holding up a photograph of Maradona shortly after his loss of life, mendacity on his again in mattress with a swollen stomach.
‘Totally poor’
Maradona was discovered lifeless two weeks after going beneath the knife, in a rented home in an unique Buenos Aires neighborhood the place he was introduced after being discharged from hospital.
He was discovered to have died of coronary heart failure and acute pulmonary edema, a situation the place fluid accumulates within the lungs.
The passing of the star of the 1986 World Cup plunged Argentina into mourning within the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tens of 1000’s of individuals queued to bid farewell to the previous Boca Juniors and Napoli striker as his physique lay in state on the presidential palace.
Nearly 120 witnesses, together with members of Maradona’s household and docs who tended to him over time, are anticipated to take the stand within the long-delayed trial within the Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro.
The hearings are anticipated to run till July.
The defendants within the case are a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a medical coordinator, a nursing coordinator, a health care provider and the evening nurse.
The day nurse who discovered Maradona lifeless is to be tried by jury individually.
Prosecutors have accused his medical staff of pushing for Maradona to obtain residence care, which proved “reckless” and “completely poor.”
They allege the footballer was deserted to his destiny for a “extended, agonizing interval” earlier than his loss of life.
‘Justice for Diego’
A panel of 20 medical specialists convened by Argentina’s public prosecutor concluded in 2021 that Maradona “would have had a greater probability of survival” with sufficient remedy in an acceptable medical facility.
The home the place he was being cared for notably had no defibrillator.
Maradona’s household declare that leaked audio and textual content messages among the many staff present the star’s well being was in imminent hazard.
Mario Baudry, a lawyer for the household, stated the messages confirmed the carers’ technique was to make sure Maradona’s daughters didn’t intervene “as a result of in the event that they did, they (the medical employees) would lose their cash.”
The accused all deny accountability for the star’s loss of life.
In the La Paternal neighborhood of Buenos Aires the place the participant nicknamed “El Pibe de Oro” (The Golden Boy) revealed his prodigious expertise as a participant for Argentinos Juniors within the Nineteen Seventies, graffiti urging “Justice for Diego!” was daubed on partitions forward of the trial.
“All society must know… what actually occurred, who deserted him… and whoever is accountable should pay the worth,” pensioner Hilda Pereira advised AFP on Monday.
Maradona “didn’t need to die as he died, alone,” she added, her voice quavering.
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