Maradona trial turns on: defense says he died of Covid

Buenos Aires – The final witness in the trial for the death of Diego Armando Maradona marched through the halls of Oral Court No. 7 in San Isidro, just outside Buenos Aires, amidst tension and heated verbal exchanges. This crucial moment marks the final step towards sentencing.

Pablo Ferrari, a forensic expert for the defense of the main defendant, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, took the stand. Luque was the doctor who had performed head surgery on the star athlete and coordinated the medical team at the Tigre villa. His testimony shattered the prosecution's case.
"I cannot claim, from a medical-scientific standpoint, that he suffered long hours of agony. It was a sudden event." — Pablo Ferrari, defense expert

The shadow of Covid and the puzzle of agony

At the heart of the defense's closing argument is the clinical nature of the death, radically opposed to that claimed by the prosecution. According to the prosecutors' expert reports, the Argentina captain at Mexico '86 died after an ordeal involving hours of suffering and total neglect.

Luque's consultant rejected this version, claiming Maradona died from a sudden combination of a heart attack, arrhythmia, and acute pulmonary edema. Conditions that, by their very nature, would leave no time for prolonged agony. But the real legal and scientific provocation launched in court concerns the pandemic: the Covid lead.

Lack of testing: Ferrari called it a serious methodological error to fail to swab the body during a time of global health emergency.

The reaction: The hypothesis raised by the expert immediately sparked indignation and formal protests from the civil parties present in the courtroom.

Towards the verdict: the schedule of oral arguments

With the preliminary investigation concluded with this final, fiery piece of the puzzle, the judicial process enters its crucial phase. The court has scheduled the start of closing arguments for September 29th.

It will be a complex and lengthy trial marathon: the closing statements, with the presence of as many as five groups of civil litigants, the prosecution, and as many as seven defense teams, could drag on for several weeks. Before the judges retire to the deliberation chamber to deliver their verdict, the defendants will have time to make spontaneous statements.