A new doctor’s report on the death of the Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona puts uncertainty in the criminal case initiated against eight medical workers involved in his case shortly to be tried for murder. A forensic expert carried out the study at the request of one of the main defendants, Maradona’s neurosurgeon, Leopoldo Luquein an effort to challenge the 2021 medical examination that held him and other doctors responsible for what he described as the soccer star’s otherwise avoidable death.
The defendants have denied any violation or irregularity in the treatment of Maradona, whose death at age 60 surprised and devastated a generation of soccer fans and left all of Argentina in mourning. Within days, the country was consumed by questions about his final, bewildering hours, a frenzy of suspicion that intensified as police officers raided his doctors’ homes and offices and Maradona’s family urged the judiciary to intervene.
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Prosecutors ultimately charged the eight medical workers with murder, a serious charge that leaves open the possibility of alleged malice and carries possible prison sentences of eight to 25 years. The trial will begin on June 4. Medical examiner Pablo Ferrari’s report, released on Monday, concluded that Maradona’s rapid, erratic heartbeat was of natural origin or derived from an “external” factor, possibly a drug such as cocaine that Maradona was known to have used. abused in the past.
The prosecution criticizes the expert’s report
“This marks a radical turn in the case,” says Vadim Mischanchuk, the defense lawyer representing Maradona’s psychiatrist, Agustina Cosachov. “The count goes from a cardiac event that lasts many days to one that lasts minutes.” Prosecutors criticized the expert’s report for having been rushed together in 72 hours and accused Ferrari of neglecting four years of evidence in favor of “a minimal portion of evidence offered by the defense.” “There is no twist in the case,” prosecutors say.
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