Prosecutors began presenting their closing arguments Thursday at the trial over the death of late football icon Diego Maradona, arguing that he was abandoned to his fate by a "chaotic" and improvised medical team.
Seven medical professionals have been on trial since April over Maradona's death in 2020 while convalescing at home after surgery.
The star of the 1986 World Cup died of heart failure and acute pulmonary oedema – a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs – at a rented home in the Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre two weeks after undergoing successful surgery for a brain clot.
The larger-than-life star, who had a history of substance abuse, was 60 at the time of his death.
His medical team is accused of providing grossly inadequate care in the lead-up to his death.
They are charged with homicide with "dolo eventual" – a legal term meaning that a person is aware that their actions or omissions could cause death but persists nonetheless.
In his closing arguments, prosecutor Patricio Ferrari said the defendants' "chaotic organisation" left the ailing player "in a helpless situation, abandoning him to his fate."
"There was a group of improvisers who forgot at all times that they were treating a vulnerable and complex patient," Ferrari said.
He accused the medical team of having "breached their duties, performed actions contrary to the art of healing" and "omitted all the acts they were required to perform."
Ferrari described the home-care arrangements as "pitiful," alleging that the bedroom where Maradona was being treated had no defibrillator, resuscitation bag or other basic emergency equipment, while there was no ambulance stationed outside the property.
He said the two layers of medical care overseeing Maradona – one involving his personal doctors and another provided by Swiss Medical – had both failed.
After months of hearings and more than 100 testimonies from witnesses and defendants, Ferrari said, "the historical core of the indictment has remained intact."
The seven defendants include two doctors, a psychiatrist, a psychologist and nursing staff. They face between eight and 25 years in prison if convicted.
The prosecution argues that Maradona's death was not a sudden event and that the conditions of his home hospitalisation were inadequate.
"The death was avoidable and the medical care was inadequate," prosecutor Cosme Iribarren said in his closing argument.
The prosecution and plaintiff lawyers maintain that Maradona suffered for around 12 hours before dying from acute pulmonary oedema linked to aggravated congestive heart failure and dilated cardiomyopathy. The defence argues that he suffered an acute, sudden and unforeseeable cardiac event.
Prosecutors displayed photographs of Maradona's body in court, prompting his daughters to break down in tears and comfort one another.
"It is the chronology of an announced death that we have before us," Iribarren said.
Maradona's three daughters were present in court Thursday as the prosecution began its summation, the first of closing arguments expected to last two weeks.
The first trial over his death was dramatically annulled last year after two-and-a-half months of hearings, following revelations that one of the judges had taken part in a clandestine documentary about the case.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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