Maradona family divided over sentences at death trial
Football
By
AFP
| Oct 15, 2026
Diego Maradona's family on Wednesday called for his medical team to be given stiff prison terms over what two of his daughters called his "murder."
Seven medical professionals have been on trial since April over Maradona's death on November 25, 2020, while convalescing after surgery for a brain clot.
The star of the 1986 World Cup died aged 60 of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema, two weeks after going under the knife.
His medical team is accused of providing grossly inadequate care in the lead-up to his death at a private home rented for his convalescence.
They deny the charges.
READ MORE
How poorly designed staircases put tenants at risk, inhibit movement
The politics of city rats: What urban rodents tell us about housing and sanitation
KPC eyes Sh35b oil trading hub in Mombasa as earnings rise 13pc
More pain for suffering Kenyans as fuel prices rise to historical levels
Kenya's Sh5.2bn drug plant takes centre stage at Nigeria investment summit
Motorists, households face fresh fuel price hikes
Businesses urged to build resilience amid global shocks
Kenya's entertainment industry set to hit Sh776bn by 2030
Who gets a say as Africa races to write AI rules?
Sh45b shareholder loan: Inside Kenya Airways advanced investor talks
Maradona's family are divided on the severity of the punishment they believe his carers should face.
A lawyer for two of his daughters, Dalma and Gianinna, on Wednesday accused his carers of "murder" and asked that six of the seven accused be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
"They killed a mythological hero," lawyer Fernando Burlando said, accusing the defendants of "brutal indifference" to the icon's fate.
Counsel for the champion's three sisters Rita, Claudia and Ana, sought terms of up to 10 years for five of the seven defendants.
Their lawyer Pablo Jurado called for medical coordinator Nancy Forlini to receive the harshest punishment.
On Tuesday, a lawyer for Maradona's youngest son, 13-year-old Diego Fernando Maradona, had called for the player's personal physician Leopoldo Luque and Forlini to be each given 16-year sentences.
State prosecutors kicked off the closing arguments last week with a call for guilty findings against six of the seven accused and prison sentences ranging from four to 12 years.
They added that Luque should receive the stiffest punishment.
The closing arguments are set to continue until the end of October.
The court in the Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro, near where Maradona died, is then expected to reserve its judgement to a later date.