The long-awaited criminal trial of eight medical professionals accused of negligence in the death of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, initially set to start next week, has been postponed to October.
Maradona, aged 60, died in November 2020 while recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot, following decades of battles with cocaine and alcohol addictions. He was found dead in bed two weeks after the surgery, in a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighborhood where he was brought after being discharged from the hospital. He died of a heart attack.
Last April, an Argentine appeals court confirmed that neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, and six others, including nurses, would stand trial, rejecting an appeal. However, on Wednesday, a court suspended the trial, which was to start next Tuesday, to October 1, citing “a series of issues… that need to be resolved before the start of the hearings.”
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The same ruling denied, for the moment, the transfer of Maradona’s remains from a private cemetery, as requested by his daughters and girlfriend, who wish to move them to a mausoleum.
Prosecutors have accused the eight medical professionals of providing “reckless” and “deficient” home treatment to Maradona. A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina’s public prosecutor concluded in 2021 that Maradona “would have had a better chance of survival” with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.