(Buenos Aires) The highly anticipated trial in Argentina, which was due to begin in October, of several health professionals for potential negligence leading to the death of Diego Maradona in 2020, was postponed once again on Thursday, until March 11, the courts announced.
The San Isidro court (north of Buenos Aires) in a resolution adopted by two judges against one, “granted the request to postpone the hearing” requested by the defense attorneys of three of the eight accused, noting the absence of opposition from the other parties.
The trial was adjourned to March 11, 2025 at 9:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. Eastern Time). This is its second postponement: originally scheduled for June, it had already been pushed back once, to March 1er october.
However, one of the accused, nurse Gisela Madrid – who from the beginning said she had only followed the doctors’ instructions – had asked to be tried separately, and by a popular jury. She will indeed be judged in this way, and from October, starting on the 2nd, the court pronounced in a separate resolution.
The postponement requested once again for the main trial invokes a delay which would “weaken the right of the defense”, as well as a potentially problematic simultaneity with the nurse’s trial.
Maradona, an Argentine icon and world soccer legend, died at the age of 60 from a cardio-respiratory crisis on November 25, 2020, alone in a medical bed in a residence in Tigre (north of Buenos Aires), where he was convalescing after neurosurgery for a hematoma on the head.
Twice, in 2022 and then on appeal in March 2023, the courts confirmed an upcoming trial for his medical team, for potential negligence leading to his death.
Among these eight practitioners, a neurosurgeon and treating physician, a clinical physician, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a head nurse, and nurses. All remain at liberty.
The court found them guilty of “homicide with intent”, a crime characterized by negligence, knowing that it could lead to death. It is punishable by 8 to 25 years in prison.