Maradona Death Trial Suspended Over Kidney Test Controversy
The trial into the death of Diego Maradona has been abruptly suspended after a stunning claim that key kidney tests used as evidence may not belong to the Argentine icon at all – but to his late father.
Seven healthcare workers stand accused of criminal negligence over the treatment Maradona received in the days leading up to his death at 60, in November 2020, while he was recovering from brain surgery in Buenos Aires.
What was already a chaotic legal saga has now taken another sharp turn.
Evidence under suspicion
The defense argued that kidney test results presented during the hearings were not those of the 1986 World Cup winner, but of his father, also named Diego Maradona, who died in 2015.
If that is confirmed, it would be a serious blow to the medical commission appointed to assess the circumstances of Maradona’s death. The nephrologist who testified on Tuesday is part of that commission, which has been fiercely critical of the care the former Napoli and Argentina star received.
The court has adjourned proceedings until 27 August to allow a full review of the evidence and to clarify whose tests were actually used.
A trial already scarred by scandal
This is the second time the case has been derailed.
The first trial, which ran for two and a half months, was dramatically annulled last year after it emerged that one of the judges had secretly taken part in a clandestine documentary about the case. A new trial began in April and was edging towards its conclusion when the latest controversy exploded.
Maradona died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema – fluid in the lungs – at a rented house in the Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre, just two weeks after undergoing surgery for a brain clot.
His medical team is accused of providing inadequate care as his condition deteriorated. All seven defendants deny criminal responsibility.
Kidney condition ‘should have been a red flag’
On Tuesday, a nephrologist told the court that Maradona’s kidney condition should have set off alarm bells for his doctors.
According to his testimony, the football legend should have been under “daily medical checkups, daily nursing care, blood tests and monitoring of his vital signs.” That level of attention, he argued, was warranted by the state of Maradona’s health.
The suggestion is stark: the system around Maradona, in his final days, was nowhere near as vigilant as it needed to be.
Prosecution stands firm, defense wants closure
Despite the uproar over the kidney tests, prosecutors insist their case remains intact.
“They (the defense) will not succeed in bringing down the trial,” prosecutor Patricio Ferrari said, rejecting any notion that the alleged mix-up could fatally undermine the prosecution’s argument.
On the other side, a lawyer for nurse Nancy Forlini, one of the accused, said there were no plans to seek a mistrial. His priority, he stressed, was simply to reach a verdict.
“I want this case to end so that my client knows her judicial fate,” he said.
For now, everything pauses. The court will reconvene on 27 August, with one crucial question hanging over the room: whose medical data has this high-profile trial been built on – and what will that answer mean for the pursuit of justice in Diego Maradona’s final days?
