Prosecutors have claimed football legend Diego Maradona was ‘murdered’ and died in a ‘theatre of horror’ as a trial began in Argentina of the medical team responsible for his care.
Maradona died at the age of 60 in November 2020 following a heart attack, just two weeks after he was released from hospital following surgery for a bleed on his brain.
His family alleged negligence, a cover-up, and derogatory comments from the medical team who oversaw his care – calling it a ‘mafia’.
Prosecutor Patricio Ferrari showed an image of Maradona at the time of his death to the court on the first day of the trial, which showed the football legend with his abdomen completely swollen.
‘Look, this is how Maradona died,’ Ferrari told the court, as reported by Argentine newspaper Ole.
‘Whoever tells you, the judges, that they did not notice what was happening to Diego is lying to your face.’
Ferrari added outside the court: ‘The whole gang was only interested in completing records and forms to prove they had done what they weren’t doing.
‘The medical team treating him, as well as those responsible for this failed and reckless hospitalisation, must be held jointly responsible for the death of Diego Maradona.’
Maradona had died at his home two weeks after undergoing brain surgery, with the speed of his discharge from hospital having been questioned.
