Forensic physician Pablo Ferrari testified before the court in San Isidro, considering that not subjecting the body of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona to a test to detect infection with the Corona virus during the autopsy is a “very important methodological error,” stressing the impossibility of categorically ruling out this possibility in the case of the late star’s death.
Ferrari’s testimony came as the last stop for expert testimony in the closing stages of the trial, which has so far heard 76 witnesses, opening a new path in the case by indicating the possibility that the death was linked to the Corona virus, the spread of which coincided with the autopsy being conducted.
The medical expert explained that the virus was able to cause an accelerated deterioration in Maradona’s health condition, suggesting that an acute respiratory infection would have led to death within a very short period. He also questioned previous estimates that assumed Maradona suffered for hours before his death, estimating the period of dying at only a few minutes.
Ferrari’s hypothesis matches part of the defense of doctor Leopoldo Luque, who assumed that Maradona was exposed to a sudden accumulation of fluid in the lungs, which led to severe respiratory distress and sudden cardiac arrest. As the only official expert to offer this explanation, this testimony may give the defense team additional evidence to challenge the basic medical version of the case.
Along with Luque, six health practitioners are being tried: psychiatrist Agostina Kosachov, Nancy Forlini, Carlos Diaz, Mariano Perrone, Ricardo Almiron, and Pedro de Spagna, all of whom face charges of simple murder with probable intent.
The trial sessions are scheduled to resume on the twenty-ninth of September, to enable the defendants to present their statements before the panel of judges.
