Prosecutors: Maradona Died in a 'Theater of Horror'

A courtroom drama over how Diego Maradona spent his final days is set to restart in Argentina on Tuesday. A new panel of judges will hear the retrial, after the first proceeding, which took place in May of last year, was thrown out when a judge allegedly allowed unauthorized filming in court for a documentary, per the BBC. Seven members of the soccer great's medical team face charges of homicide with possible intent, accused of providing inadequate care in 2020 while the 60-year-old recovered at home in Tigre, near Buenos Aires, from brain surgery. Reuters notes that an eighth defendant, a nurse, will stand trial separately in front of a jury.

The defendants deny wrongdoing but could face eight to 25 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors, who have called the residence where Maradona was recuperating a "theater of horror," say the team knew the severity of Maradona's condition, yet failed to take steps that might have saved him, per the BBC. An expert panel labeled his home treatment "deficient and reckless" and said he would likely have had a better chance of survival in a medical center. Maradona ultimately died of heart failure and fluid in the lungs, per Al Jazeera, which notes that the defense is claiming he died of natural causes, citing his past booze and cocaine abuse. About 100 witnesses, including Maradona's daughters, are set to testify in San Isidro, with the trial expected to run through July.