Maradona trial: 4 to 12 year prison sentences requested for the medical team

Sentences of 4 to 12 years in prison were requested on Thursday against the medical team that looked after Diego Maradona during his final days in November 2020, and whose prosecution denounced the "chaotic organization" resulting in a "situation of abandonment" of the star, left "to his fate".

Prosecutor Patricio Ferrari distinguished between two groups of defendants. He requested sentences of between 8 and 12 years for three healthcare professionals, whom he accused of homicide with implied malice, meaning negligence committed knowing that it could lead to death.

Against three others, he retained the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, and requested sentences of 4 to 5 years in prison.

He did not seek a sentence against a seventh defendant, a doctor outside the team who had visited Maradona only once during his fatal convalescence.

The Argentine football idol died at the age of 60 from a cardiorespiratory crisis coupled with pulmonary edema, found dead on November 25 in the late morning on his bed in a Tigre residence rented for his convalescence, after minor neurosurgery.

The heaviest sentence, 12 years with a 10-year ban on practicing medicine, was sought against neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, 44, identified at the trial as Maradona's trusted doctor at the time, and a decision-maker in the medical entourage.

Ten years in prison have been requested against the medical coordinator of the private care provider, Nancy Forlini, and 8 years against the psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov who treated Maradona, and who was also considered a decision-maker alongside Luque.

Against these three defendants, prosecutor Ferrari noted "the absence of corrective measures, after having anticipated the risk (for Maradona) and having accepted it with indifference".

Finally, the prosecution asked the court in San Isidro (north of Buenos Aires) for 5 years imprisonment for psychologist Carlos Diaz, and 4 years against nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni and nurse Ricardo Almiron.

The prosecutor argued that the trial had demonstrated that the seventh defendant, doctor Pedro di Spagna, bore "no criminal responsibility in this case".

The hearings for prosecution and defense arguments, which began on Thursday, are expected to last two weeks, with the verdict being reserved for a later date.

AFP