Spread the word
The family of late Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has expressed differing views on the prison terms that should be imposed on members of his medical team standing trial over his death in 2020.
While two of his daughters have called for lengthy prison sentences for six of the seven medical professionals accused in the case, the family’s three sisters have sought comparatively lower terms for some of the defendants.
The medical professionals have been on trial since April over Maradona’s death on November 25, 2020, at the age of 60. The 1986 World Cup winner died of heart failure and acute pulmonary oedema two weeks after undergoing surgery for a blood clot in his brain.
The defendants are accused of providing grossly inadequate medical care while Maradona was recovering at a private residence. They have denied the charges.
Daughters seek up to 15-year sentences
A lawyer representing Maradona’s daughters, Dalma and Gianinna, on Wednesday accused the medical team of being responsible for the football icon’s death and urged the court to impose severe punishment on six of the seven defendants.
Their lawyer, Fernando Burlando, described the alleged conduct of the medical professionals as “brutal indifference” to Maradona’s fate.
“They killed a mythological hero,” Burlando said while urging the court to impose prison sentences of up to 15 years on the six defendants.
The legal team argued that the medical professionals should be held accountable for their alleged failures in caring for the former Argentina captain during his recovery.
However, the position of the two daughters differs from that of Maradona’s three sisters, Rita, Claudia and Ana, who are also seeking convictions but have called for less severe sentences.
Family members seek different punishments
A lawyer representing the three sisters, Pablo Jurado, requested prison terms of up to 10 years for five of the seven defendants.
Jurado called for medical coordinator Nancy Forlini to receive the harshest punishment among those his clients want convicted.
On Tuesday, a lawyer representing Maradona’s youngest son, 13-year-old Diego Fernando Maradona, called for the player’s personal physician, Leopoldo Luque, and Forlini to each receive 16-year prison sentences.
The differing demands highlight divisions within the football legend’s family over the appropriate punishment for the medical professionals accused in the case.
Prosecutors seek convictions for six defendants
State prosecutors began their closing arguments last week, requesting guilty verdicts against six of the seven defendants and prison sentences ranging from four to 12 years.
They also called for Luque, Maradona’s personal physician, to receive the harshest punishment.
The closing arguments are expected to continue until the end of October, after which the court in San Isidro, a suburb of Buenos Aires near where Maradona died, is expected to reserve its judgment for a later date.
Maradona, widely regarded as one of football’s greatest players, captained Argentina to victory at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico and remained an iconic figure in the country and across the global football community until his death.
Spread the word