Maradona death trial: verdict set for 22 December 2026
An Argentine court announced it will deliver a sentence on 22 December 2026 against seven healthcare professionals. The prosecution is seeking up to 12 years in prison for homicide with eventual intent.
Court sets 22 December for sentencing in Maradona case
Argentine justice will deliver its verdict on 22 December 2026 in the trial over Diego Maradona's death, according to elnuevoherald.com. The announcement came after six months of hearings, 51 trial days and more than 70 testimonies, in a session marked by the words of Dalma Maradona, the former footballer's eldest daughter.
"I want to ask you for my father to receive the justice he deserves," Dalma said before the court trying seven healthcare professionals. The court president, Alberto Gaig, closed the proceedings and announced with tears that the verdict will take place "on 22 December 2026" at 12:00 local time (15:00 GMT).
The death of the Diez and the charges
Maradona died on 25 November 2020, aged 60, from cardiorespiratory arrest and pulmonary oedema. The death occurred during home hospitalisation in Tigre, north of Buenos Aires, where he was recovering from neurosurgery.
The prosecution requested prison sentences of between 4 and 12 years for six of the seven defendants, under the charge of homicide with eventual intent, which implies that the accused were aware that their actions or omissions could cause the death of the former footballer. The seventh defendant, clinician Pedro Di Spagna, will be acquitted due to absence of sustained prosecution, Gaig ruled this Thursday.
The main defendants and their defences
The gravest accusations fell on personal physician Leopoldo Luque, medical coordinator Nancy Forlini and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov. The prosecution requested 12, 10 and 8 years in prison respectively for each of them.
Luque, identified as the highest authority in the home hospitalisation, took the stand to reaffirm his innocence and express his regret: "It hurt me, it will always hurt me". His defence described him as a "scapegoat" and argued that he had no control over the day-to-day management at the residence where Maradona was convalescing, and that the former player died from a sudden and unforeseeable cardiac event.
Cosachov's defence, responsible for her psychiatric treatment, argued that the defendant never acted with indifference and always "did something to reverse it" when warning signs appeared in the days before the death. Her lawyer Vadim Mischanchuk further stated that the private healthcare company withheld key information: "Nobody informed her about the tachycardia, about the hypertension, nobody was informing her of anything".
As for Forlini, accused of failing to provide basic medical equipment to the residence, her defence indicated that she was only required to supply what the treating physicians requested, and that she never received any request for equipment.
Nurses and coordinator seek acquittal
On Thursday, the defences of nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni and nurse Ricardo Almirón also intervened, both seeking the acquittal of their clients.
The prosecution accuses Perroni of not having delivered medical summaries to staff and of failing to properly supervise the nurses on duty. "There was not a single omission or breach by Perroni that contributed to Diego Maradona's death," responded his lawyer Martín Montalto.
Almirón, for his part, was blamed for failing to correctly record the Diez's vital signs. His defence counsel Franco Chiarelli clarified that of the 23 reports drawn up during the entire hospitalisation, the majority were produced by his client.
The trial, which began in April 2026, will formally conclude with the reading of the verdict and any resulting sentences in December.
Source: Google News AR — Crime