The long -awaited testing of medical staff treating the late Argentine football legend Diego Maradona began in the capital, Buenos Aires.
Maradona was recovering when he died from a heart attack at her home in 2020, at 60 years old. He was recovering at home from a brain blood clot surgery in the early that month.
Prosecutors claim that Maradona's death could be avoided and blamed hospital staff in medical negligence.
The defendants claim that Maradona had refused more treatment and had to stay in the hospital longer after surgery.
They risk a prison between eight and 25 years of age if they are convicted of a “murder with a possible intention”.
In an opening statement, the prosecutor's office said it intended to present “solid” evidence that no team member “had done what he had to do” at the “horror theater”, which is Maradona's death bed.
“Today, Diego Armando Maradona, his children, his relatives, the closest to him and the Argentine people deserve justice,” prosecutor Patricio Ferrari told the court.
Investigators classify the case as a guilty murder, a crime similar to involuntary murder, as they said the defendants were aware of the seriousness of Maradona's health, but did not take the necessary measures to save him.
The defendants in the case are neurosurgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, medical coordinator, nursing coordinator, doctor and night nurse.
The night nurse said before that he had seen “warning signs”, but received orders “not to wake up” Maradona.
More than 100 witnesses will testify in the process that is expected to continue until July.
Diego Maradona is largely considered one of the biggest players who have ever played the game. He was Captain when Argentina won the 1986 World Cup, scoring the famous goal of God against England in the quarterfinals.
In the second half of his career, Maradona struggled with cocaine addiction and was banned for 15 months after testing positively for the drug in 1991.
The news of his death was thrown by the football world – and his homeland in Argentina – in a deep mourning, with many thousands of people preserved for hours to walk on his ark at the Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires.