Doctors, nurses, and a psychologist who cared for Argentine football great Diego Maradona will be charged with murder, according to a judgment issued following an examination into his cardiac arrest-related death.
The document seen by Reuters adds that the presiding judge questioned “the behaviors – active or by omission – of each of the defendants that led to and contributed to the realization of the negative consequence.”
The court ruled that the eight employees who were caring for Maradona at the time of his death are guilty of “simple homicide.”
According to Argentina’s penal law, this offense is normally punishable by eight to twenty-five years in jail. There is currently no definite date for the trial.
The accused have denied guilt for Maradona’s death, and several of their attorneys have requested the dismissal of the lawsuit.
Maradona, one of the greatest football players in history, died of a heart attack at age 60 in Buenos Aires in November 2020.
He had been recuperating at home since undergoing surgery for a blood clot in the brain earlier that month.
Following his death, prosecutors searched the property of Maradona’s physician and began investigating other individuals engaged in his treatment.
A panel of experts convened to investigate his death concluded that the football player’s medical staff operated in an “inappropriate, inadequate, and reckless” manner.
At the club level, Maradona was best known throughout Europe for his two Serie A championships with Napoli.
In addition, he was a club legend with Boca Juniors in his home Argentina, where he played for two separate stints.
Maradona will forever be known for his ‘Hand of God’ goal against England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup, which he scored by leaping over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and punching the ball into the net. Argentina went on to win 2-1.
