The San Isidro Court of Appeal (north of Buenos Aires) announced yesterday, Tuesday, that eight people involved in the death of world soccer star Diego Maradona in November 2020 will be tried in Argentina, after their appeal was rejected.
The eight defendants, including Maradona’s personal physician, will be tried for “manslaughter”, which carries a penalty of 8 to 25 years in prison, and relates to neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Kozakov, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz and coordinator of the medical interest, Nancy. Edith Forlini and coordinating nurse Mariano Ariel Peroni; nurses Ricardo Omar Almiron and Dahiana Khizela Madrid; and clinical physician Pedro Pablo de Spagna.
In the opinion of the Public Prosecutor, the eight defendants did not respect their “mission to act within the framework of good medical practice”.
Currently, the court has not ordered the pretrial detention of the defendants who will be tried if they are released.
Of the eight defendants, the neurosurgeon and psychiatrist will have to answer two more: “use of a forged private document” and “acceptance of a forged document”.
In February 2022, the Public Prosecutor accused the defendants of failing to perform their duties, each in his own capacity, and of contributing to the exacerbation of the patient’s risk, beyond the permissible margin, causing preventable death.