A last witness in the trial does not rule out that Maradona died from covid-19

The official expert Pablo Ferrarilast witness in the trial for the death of Diego Armando Maradonasaid this Tuesday in court that he cannot rule out that the star died due to covid-19.

“We cannot rule out that he died of Covid,” said Ferrari, noting that it was “a methodological error” not to have performed a coronavirus detection test as part of the autopsy.

Maradona died on November 25, 2020in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, while receiving home treatment in a house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

“The coronavirus disease entered through the respiratory tract and could be devastating in its virulence and kill the patient in a few hours,” said Ferrari, a forensic doctor, pediatrician and official expert of Justice.

The last witness of the trial, which began on April 14 in the courts of the town of San Isidro, caused surprise by raising a hypothesis that had not been mentioned in 43 previous hearings, in which 76 witnesses paraded.

Ferrari He participated in an expert report requested in 2025 by the defense of the main accused, Leopoldo Luque.

According to the official expert, Maradona fluid accumulated in the lung for a short period of time, which could be minutes or a few hours, and this caused drowning that led to cardiac arrest.

While other official experts stated at the beginning of the trial that Maradona had agony that could have lasted 12 hours, Ferrari stated: “His agony had to have been a few minutes.”

Experts summoned by the accused previously declared that Maradona’s death was sudden, but Ferrari is the only official expert to support this view of the events, making him a key witness for Luque’s defense, identified throughout the trial as the doctor in charge of the former soccer player’s health.

The next hearing will be held on September 29date on which the accused will begin to expand their statements.

Arguments are scheduled to begin on October 6 and the trial is scheduled to extend until the end of that month.

In addition to Luque, the psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, the home care coordinator of Swiss Medical, Nancy Forlini, the psychologist Carlos Díaz, the nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni, the nurse Ricardo Almirón and the clinical doctor Pedro Di Spagna, all accused of simple homicide with possible intent, are being tried in this process.