Trial of doctors over Maradona's death suspended over incorrect kidney test results
A Buenos Aires court has postponed proceedings for a week after the defence claimed that kidney test results submitted to the court were in fact those of Maradona's father.
Incorrect test results complicate second trial over Maradona's death
A Buenos Aires court on Thursday suspended a new trial into the death of Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona for a week after information emerged that kidney test results submitted to the court were in fact those of his father – not the football star himself. This is reported by 24ur citing the French news agency AFP.
The hearing was postponed until 27 August. The presiding judge, Alberto Gaig, confirmed that the court would use this time to verify whose the disputed documentation belongs to.
Seven defendants, sentences up to 25 years imprisonment
Seven healthcare workers are in the dock, charged with negligent conduct in Maradona's care before his death on 25 November 2020. Maradona was recovering at the time from an operation for a blood clot in his brain and was 60 years old. The healthcare workers face prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years.
The first trial had ended years earlier without a verdict – the court annulled it after two and a half months of proceedings when it emerged that one of the judges had participated in a secretly filmed documentary about the case. The new trial began in April this year.
Test results dating to 2015, when Maradona was not living in Argentina
As the proceedings were drawing to a close, the defence raised a new complication. Agustin Varela, the lawyer for Nancy Forlini, a medical nurse and one of the defendants, pointed out that some of the kidney test results date from 2015 – and therefore cannot be test results of the football legend, as he was not living in Argentina at that time.
Maradona spent most of 2015 in Dubai and then travelled to his homeland to visit his ill father, Diego Salustiano Maradona, who died in June of that year and shared the same name. The defence claims that the test results submitted to court are in fact those of his deceased father.
Prosecution: the trial cannot be dismantled
The prosecution rejected the claims that the document mix-up would jeopardise the case. "The defence will not succeed in dismantling this trial," prosecutor Patricio Ferrari stated on Thursday.
Nevertheless, confirmation that the submitted test results did belong to Maradona's father could undermine the credibility of the medical commission established to assess the circumstances of the star's death. This would strengthen the defence's position.
Forlini's other lawyer, Nicolas D'Albora, meanwhile denied that they intended to seek annulment of the trial. "I want this case to end, so that my client will know what her legal fate will be," D'Albora said.
Commission critical of healthcare
The medical commission that investigated the circumstances of Maradona's death described his healthcare in the final days of his life as inadequate, insufficient, and reckless.
On Tuesday, a nephrologist testified in court, stating that Maradona, who had a history of cocaine abuse problems, suffered from chronic kidney disease. This diagnosis should have been a warning sign for the healthcare personnel caring for him.
Maradona died from heart failure and acute pulmonary oedema in a house in the Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre, two weeks after undergoing brain surgery.
1986 champion
Diego Armando Maradona is regarded by many experts as one of the greatest footballers of all time. He reached his peak at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where he led Argentina to the championship title. In the quarter-final against England, he scored two historic goals: the first with his hand – later named the 'Hand of God' – and the second following a solo run across the middle of the pitch, often referred to as the 'goal of the century'.
Source: 24ur