Explore Business Standard
One of the three judges overseeing the trial of seven health professionals accused of negligence in the death of Diego Maradona stepped down from the proceedings amid controversy over her participation in the making of a documentary about the case. Julieta Makintach withdrew from the case after the prosecutor showed footage of the documentary that spans the first moments after the soccer star's death in 2020 to the start of the trial more than two months ago, in which the judge appears as one of its lead characters. Following Makintach's resignation, the other two judges will have to decide how the case will proceed. The trial was suspended for a week after prosecutor Patricio Ferrari asked the San Isidro court to review Makintach's role in allegedly allowing the documentary to be filmed during the trial. Leopoldo Luque, Maradona's primary physician at the time of the star's death and one of the main defendants, had requested Makintach's removal from the trial. Luque's lawyer, Jul
Experts involved in Diego Maradona's autopsy testified on Tuesday at the trial of seven health professionals accused of negligent homicide that the Argentine soccer star had an abnormally large heart, suffered from cirrhosis, and showed no traces of alcohol or drugs at the time of is death. Forensic expert Alejandro Ezequiel Vega told the court that Maradona's heart was enlarged and weighed about 503 grams, when the average weight is between 250 and 300 grams. Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020. He was 60. Vega explained that the examination of Maradona's heart showed that the former star suffered from long-standing ischemia, with lack of blood flow and oxygen. The autopsy concluded that Maradona died of acute pulmonary edema secondary to congestive heart failure. Maradona died in a house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain. According to the prosecutio