Trial into Diego Maradona’s death given start date: April 14

The start of the new trial over the death of Diego Maradona will start on April 14, a month later than originally planned, it was announced on Wednesday. 

The trial will determine the responsibility of the medical team involved in the late footballer’s death.

Maradona – widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest-ever players – died on November 25, 2020, aged 60, while recovering at home from brain surgery for a blood clot, after decades battling cocaine and alcohol addiction.

According to the casefile, he died of heart failure, acute pulmonary oedema and dilated cardiomyopathy, just two weeks after going under the knife.

A first trial in 2025 was declared null after two months of hearings, amid a scandal that ended with a judge being removed from the case after she collaborated with producers making a documentary about the proceedings.

In the new trial, which had been scheduled to begin next week, around 40 witnesses will testify again, including the footballer’s daughters Dalma, Gianinna and Jana Maradona, as well as his former partner and the mother of his youngest child, Verónica Ojeda.

The start has been postponed until April due to a rescheduling of the hearing timetable, according to a court document. The trial was originally scheduled for March 17.

When asked why the court decided on this change, the judges explained that by significantly reducing the list of witnesses, "the parties are given a reasonable amount of time to adapt their preparation to the new testimonial evidence scheme and plan the distribution of witnesses."

Seven of Maradona’s caregivers face prison terms of between eight and 25 years if convicted of homicide with possible malice aforethought (dolo eventual) – pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to death.

The defendants are neurosurgeon and family doctor Leopoldo Luciano Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, psychologist Carlos Ángel Díaz, medical coordinator Nancy Forlini, nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni, clinician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna, and nurse Ricardo Omar Almirón.

An eighth defendant, nurse Gisela Madrid, is being trialled separately.

In its ruling, the court did not specify how long the proceedings will last. Hearings will take place twice a week and nearly one hundred witnesses are expected to testify.
 

– TIMES/NA/AFP