Maradona died on November 25, 2020, aged 60, while recovering at home from brain surgery for a blood clot, after decades battling cocaine and alcohol addictions.
On trial are a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a medical coordinator, a nursing coordinator, a doctor and a night nurse accused of being criminally negligent in the care they provided to the footballer in his final days.
In an opening statement, the prosecution said it intended to submit “solid” evidence that no member of the medical team “did what they were supposed to do” in the “horror theatre” that was Maradona’s deathbed.
“Look, that’s how Maradona died!” prosecutor Patricio Ferrari exclaimed in the courtroom, holding up a posthumous photo of Maradona, lying on his back in bed, his body grotesquely swollen.
The gruesome picture brought Maradona’s three daughters, Jana, Dalma and Gianinna, who attended the start of the trial, to the verge of tears.
“They [the accused] are lying to you when they say they did not take part in murder,” Ferrari charged.
Fernando Burlando, lawyer for Dalma and Gianinna, described Maradona’s medical team as “diabolical.”
The defendants face prison terms of between eight and 25 years if convicted on charges of “homicide with possible intent” – pursuing a course of action despite knowing it can cause death.
Outside the court, dozens of fans waved banners calling for “justice.”
Veronica Ojeda, Maradona’s former partner and mother of one of his sons, 12-year-old Dieguito, tearfully thanked them for their support before entering the courthouse.
Maradona was found dead two weeks after going under the knife, in a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighbourhood where he was brought after being discharged from hospital.
It was determined he died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema, a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs.
The passing of the 1986 World Cup star plunged Argentina, and football fans worldwide, into mourning in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nearly 120 witnesses, including members of Maradona’s family and doctors who previously tended to him, are expected to testify in the long-delayed trial in the Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro.
The hearings, adjourned until Thursday, are expected to run until July.
A day nurse who found Maradona dead is to be tried separately, by jury.
Prosecutors accuse his medical team of pushing for Maradona to receive home care, which proved “reckless” and “totally deficient.”
They allege the footballer was abandoned to his fate for a “prolonged, agonising period” before his death. (AFP)
