The judgment in the trial over the 2020 death of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona will be delivered on December 22, the court announced Thursday, after six months of hearings.
On Thursday, the trial of seven healthcare professionals accused of negligence in the star’s death came to a close, with brief statements from Maradona’s daughter and some of the defendants.
Her voice breaking with emotion, Dalma Maradona said, “I hope my father receives the justice he deserves…like anyone else.”
Maradona’s primary doctor, Leopoldo Luque, the main defendant in the case, declared, “I am innocent.”
Maradona passed away at the age of 60 due to heart failure combined with pulmonary edema.
The larger-than-life star, who had a history of substance abuse, was discovered dead in his bed on November 25, 2020.
He was staying at his home in Tigre, north of Buenos Aires, which he had rented for his recovery after minor neurosurgery.
His death plunged the nation into mourning amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The trial, which got underway in April, featured testimony from over 70 witnesses.
Prosecutors sought prison terms of four to twelve years for six of the seven defendants, with the heaviest sentence of 12 years requested for Luque.
During closing arguments on Wednesday, Luque’s defense attorneys dismissed the prosecution’s claim that Maradona’s death was foreseeable, describing their client as a “scapegoat” in the case.
Over the course of the trial, Luque was by far the most combative defendant, speaking up several times when he felt he was being implicated.
His legal team played audio recordings, presented scientific articles, and even a video of Maradona’s autopsy, which provoked the anger of the footballer’s daughters.
“It’s easy to attack me because I’m the one who had the most contact with Maradona,” Luque said in court, asserting that “the only one who would defend me would be Diego.”
“I cared deeply for him; I loved him. He was my idol and my friend,” he said.
The case has centered on whether the doctors acted negligently by deciding to let Maradona recover in a private home rather than in a hospital.
The prosecution highlighted the near-total lack of medical equipment such as a hospital bed, a defibrillator, or a readily available ambulance as evidence of what they described as the defendants’ failure to fulfill their duty.
Several medical experts testified that Maradona’s care givers did not respond to crucial warning signs he had oedema, tachycardia, and difficulty breathing in the period before his death.
