Berliner Tageblatt - Maradona trial on hold over possible medical evidence mix-up

Seven health care workers are accused of criminal negligence over the care Maradona received before his death at age 60 in November 2020, while he was recuperating from brain surgery.

The first trial was dramatically annulled last year after two-and-a-half months of hearings, following revelations that one of the judges overseeing it took part in a clandestine documentary about the case.

A new trial began in April. It had been nearing a close when it, too, became embroiled in controversy.

The defense claimed that kidney test evidence produced at the trial belonged to Maradona's father, also named Diego, who died in 2015, not the star of the 1986 World Cup.

The court adjourned until August 27 to check whether the tests "correspond to Diego Armando Maradona or someone else," presiding judge Alberto Gaig said.

Maradona died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema -- a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs -- at a rented home in the Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre two weeks after undergoing surgery for a brain clot.

His medical team is accused of providing inadequate care in the lead-up to his death. It denies the charges.

The prosecution argued that the alleged test mix-up in no way jeopardized their case.

"They (the defense) will not succeed in bringing down the trial," prosecutor Patricio Ferrari said Thursday.

If confirmed that the test results were those of Maradona's father, however, it could discredit the medical commission set up to evaluate the circumstances of Maradona's death, boosting the defence.

The commission has been highly critical of the care Maradona received in his last days.

On Tuesday, a nephrologist testified that the former player, who had a history of cocaine abuse, was suffering from chronic kidney disease which should have acted as a red flag for his carers.

He added that the patient should have undergone daily blood tests but that there was no evidence of any blood being taken during his two weeks of home convalescence.

- Experts' credibility in question -

Agustin Varela, a lawyer for one of the accused, nurse Nancy Forlini, noted that the some of the kidney tests dated back to 2015 and could not have been Maradona the player's because he was not living in Argentina at the time.

Maradona spent most of that year in Dubai before travelling to Argentina to see his father, Diego Salustiano Maradona, who died in June 2015.

Another of Forlini's lawyers, Nicolas D'Albora however denied any plans to seek a mistrial.

"I want this case to end so that my client knows her judicial fate," he said.

E.Schubert--BTB