Second week of Diego Maradona death trial begins, Gianinna speaks | OneFootball

Starting at 10 in the morning, the second week of the new trial over the death of Diego Armando Maradona got underway. Gianinna Maradona testified for more than five hours and was the only witness of the day. She answered questions from Francisco Oneto, Leopoldo Luque’s defense lawyer, and through tears said she felt “harassed.”

The first two hearings last week could be summed up by saying Luque left “very satisfied.” The neurosurgeon, who has always been the one most singled out by the accusers, changed his strategy for 2026: he decided he will attend every hearing, testify as many times as necessary, and respond to every statement about him that he considers false.

The representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office opened the session by mentioning a contradiction in Leopoldo Luque’s latest statement. It concerns the role the accused neurosurgeon had in Maradona’s home hospitalization: they say he claimed he was not the primary physician, but that there are audios and documents stating otherwise.

In this context, they asked to show the material contradicting the defendant’s testimony and, with the judges’ approval, they presented chats and evidence.

The prosecution played a voice message from the accused neurosurgeon in which he can be heard asking for Maradona’s “medical record” to be put together so he would be covered in case Maradona died.

“He could die at some point; there’s no imminent likelihood. So, I’m not liable. But if the family comes after me, the paperwork has to be in order,” he was heard saying in the audio played at the hearing.

And he continued: “If someone comes after me, the paperwork has to be in order. What we’re going to do if Diego dies is get a consent form explaining the treatment, the pros, the cons, and have him sign that he is aware of everything.”

The defendant asked to respond to the voice message that was played in order to provide context. The judges, although they authorized it because it is his right, asked him not to make systematic statements so as not to hinder the flow of the proceedings.

“I clarified that I was a friend and that I could also be called his trusted doctor and primary doctor. It seems the prosecution didn’t hear that this changed, and I said that. I said it because when I wrote those documents, which are from September 1, 2020, it is true that I wrote them for the patient’s benefit. It was taken out of context,” he began.

He added: “But the reality is that the patient, as you will see, went through good periods and bad periods, typical of a patient with substance abuse issues. Under those circumstances, and with me being alone, the patient would not stop drinking alcohol and was conscious. He exercised his right to autonomy and, whether we liked it or not, we had to respect it.”

The neurosurgeon said that his relationship with the patient “changed enormously on the day of the surgery”. He was referring to the operation for the subdural hematoma that the Ten underwent weeks before his death. “That’s when lawyers, doctors, and the family appeared in a role I had wanted for a long time: for them to take responsibility for the patient. From then on, the relationship changed,” he said.

And he clarified: “The patient leaves Clínica Olivos with criteria to continue care for his addiction. Never because of his heart. I wanted to point out the mistake the prosecution makes by placing an audio in a different context. And I apologize, I do not want to obstruct the proceedings, only to tell the truth.”

A defense lawyer asked that Maradona’s children not testify at the trial

It was defense lawyer Rodríguez Jordan, one of the attorneys representing psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov. He argued that the adult heirs were responsible for Diego’s health and could not testify under oath to tell the truth because they could “incriminate themselves.” This would be for failing to fulfill family care duties.

“Something so aggressive to a person’s dignity, or toward a victim, has never been said. Never,” said lawyer Fernando Burlando, who represents Dalma and Gianinna.

The judges rejected the defense request. “That argument is a matter for another investigation, not this trial, and it is untimely. Gianinna Maradona and the rest of the children should remain as witnesses. I will make clear, however, that during the defense cross-examination I will not allow accusatory questions aimed at proving their criminal responsibility,” Judge Alberto Gaig ruled.

Diego’s daughter began her testimony by placing herself in October 2020. “My dad was lost in time and space, he didn’t know where he was. My dad was not well at all; they could no longer keep telling me he was. It became evident on his 60th birthday. They could no longer say that Dalma and I were crazy and that we only wanted to smear the people around him,” she recalled.

She added: “In October 2020 my dad was really very bad. He had trouble walking, interacting, connecting. When I asked, they told me it was because of pills or alcohol and they couldn’t specifically tell me what was happening because they told me he had periods, but no, my dad’s health was getting worse and worse.”

“On his birthday, October 30, 2020, I arrived at my dad’s house with my best friend and my son. His fans were outside. We went in and he was outside in the yard with a fire pit, dressed in a tracksuit. It was very hot. He had a vacant stare, looking at the fire,” Gianinna began recounting.

She continued: “My son showed him his T-shirt with a photo of him on it and my dad didn’t recognize himself. I asked if he was okay, told him to move away from the fire. The people there told me he had to go to the stadium; I said no. He told me he wanted to leave with me. They didn’t let me; the police removed us and my dad was taken away in a van.”

Diez’s daughter recalled her first contacts with the three main people accused over Diego’s death. “I had been talking with Luque about my dad’s health. I started talking to him a few months earlier, quite a lot, before my dad’s death. He was his doctor, the person responsible. He was the one in charge of giving me my dad’s medical updates when he was admitted to Ipensa,” she said.

About the accused psychiatrist, she said: “Unfortunately, I only communicated with Gorbachev on November 2, after the incident on his birthday. On October 30, when we all saw what we saw on TV, I contacted Jana and Diego Jr. and asked them whether they thought that was normal or whether they saw that things were getting worse. They told me everything was fine, and I said we needed to talk to the doctors because everything was wrong and it kept getting worse.”

She added: “I wanted to know what medication he was taking because my dad was not my dad, they had changed him, he was sleepy, slow, unrecognizable. He was the fastest person on the planet and he was getting worse and worse. I sent Cosachov a message, introduced myself, and we had a meet. I wanted all my siblings to be there together because otherwise she told each one something different. I only met her in person at Clínica Olivos.”

About psychologist Carlos Díaz, she recounted: “Agustina tells us there was a psychologist treating my dad. We were at Clínica Olivos, in a meeting; Díaz arrived late, introduced himself, and said he was helping my dad with his alcohol treatment and that he was an addiction specialist.”

Gianinna Maradona recalled that Maradona underwent a series of medical tests at Ipensa hospital in La Plata after the birthday he celebrated at Gimnasia’s stadium. In that context, he was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma in his head, which they said did not need surgery. However, she recalled that his inner circle decided to operate on him anyway as a precaution, and for that he was transferred to Clínica Olivos.

“I went with him in the ambulance, he went in in a wheelchair and I never saw him again. They operated on him that afternoon. I had been told not to worry, that Luque was not going to operate on him. I know he was there, but he didn’t touch him. The operation went well, he responded well, and then we talked among ourselves about what would happen when he was discharged because he couldn’t go back to Brandsen, to the life they were living,” Gianinna said.

She continued: “Jana, Dalma, Diego and I agreed; we were called to a meeting by the health insurer to tell us that my dad would be discharged in a few days and that they recommended three options. Luque, Cosachov, and one of my aunts also came to that meeting.”

Gianinna recalled the rehabilitation options the doctors gave Diego’s relatives after the head surgery performed at Clínica Olivos. “They manipulated me,” she recalled through tears.

“One option was to admit him without his consent and seek a court order, another was admission to a clinic with his consent, and the third was home hospitalization. After what Dalma and I had gone through with a neuropsychiatric clinic for his cocaine addiction, that seemed like the best option to us because it really had been the best thing that had happened to him. I don’t know if it was because they treated him like anyone else or if he was aware of what was happening. Or maybe, as he later told us, our love had helped him,” she recalled about the discharge options.

She went on: “Luque told us the best thing was to try home hospitalization. We discussed it. I could not imagine that there was an ulterior motive or that he was plotting something else. We truly believed that Luque and Cosahov’s option was the right one and the best for him. We were going to support it because we wanted him to live in the best way possible. We trusted them, they manipulated us, and we agreed. They told us it was going to be a serious home hospitalization with medical equipment.”

“It makes me very angry to hear him. I heard on TV that he said he wasn’t his doctor. And in this audio he not only takes responsibility, he says he was responsible,” she said after a message in which the accused neurosurgeon told the family about setting up a ‘serious home hospitalization’ for Diego.

“I’ve spent my whole life beside my dad. I know the dealings, the people, I know that it ruined his life,” she stressed.

Throughout her testimony, Gianinna stressed that Luque, Cosachov, and Díaz were responsible for Maradona’s health and for the home hospitalization.

“I wasn’t the one who had to get the clinical physician, but they want to put that responsibility on me. Under no circumstances am I going to take responsibility; unfortunately, I trusted these three individuals, who did nothing but manipulate us and leave my son without his grandfather, just like my three nephews. Luque could have stepped aside if it was too much for him; today it’s already too late,” she testified.

“I got angry when I saw the house for the home hospitalization. It was not the house my dad deserved, and not because of luxury. It didn’t have a bedroom on the ground floor, or an en suite, or bathrooms nearby. The room they set up for him was next to the kitchen; the door didn’t close. They told me they were going to fix it,” Gianinna described. She added: “It wasn’t near the entrance, it was a straight path and it was the last one on a corner.”

About the medical equipment available to care for Maradona, she recalled: “They had promised us that my dad would have the necessary equipment to be monitored. There were nurses and, in the first few days, the therapeutic companion. We believed he was going to be monitored, that they would take his pulse, that he would sleep with the little finger device on. The only thing I saw in the house was the oxygen saturation monitor. I didn’t see a monitor, or a defibrillator, or the ambulance at the door they had promised would be there. Luque and Cosachov told me there would be a high-complexity ambulance nearby. I never saw it.”

Gianinna Maradona said that during the first week of Maradona’s home hospitalization, he was doing well. But from the second week on, she began to see him deteriorating. She specifically recalled two dates.

“On November 17, 2020, I went to see him with my son. He didn’t want to come out of his room and we left. I told everyone that my dad didn’t look well, that he was very swollen. He even had a strange, robotic voice. I told Luque, I wrote to Díaz, and I left. I went back on the 18th and he didn’t want to come out of the room either. Doctors came and he didn’t want to receive them either,” she recalled about the Ten’s final days.

“On the 18th my dad asked all of us to leave. No one told me anything about his health. That day they told us it was important to give him his space and that he should be able to decide whether he wanted to see anyone. Carlos Díaz explained to us that these were processes.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.