Buenos Aires, Apr 16 (EFE).- Argentine neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, the main defendant in the trial over the death of Diego Armando Maradona, told the court on Thursday that he «was not in charge» of the star’s health.
Luque added, as he did during the overturned 2025 trial, that he is not «a general practitioner.»
»I explicitly stated that I was a neurosurgeon, that I was not a general practitioner, that I was not a psychologist. They said they were going to find a general practitioner, and I said I agreed completely,» Luque said in his statement; he then added: «I was not in charge.»
The neurosurgeon is accused of failing to provide proper care to the star and of “ignoring and dismissing” the symptoms of heart failure in the days leading up to his death on Nov. 25, 2020, as Maradona was receiving home care at a house in the town of Tigre, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
The decision to provide his care outside a medical facility, as well as the quality of that care, are central to the trial, as they will help to determine whether Maradona’s death could have been prevented and what criminal liability the healthcare professionals who treated him might bear.
“I am innocent, and I deeply regret his death,” said Luque, who also denied having met Maradona through attorney Matías Morla, the soccer star’s legal representative and a defendant in another criminal case involving the use of Maradona’s trademark.
Following the defendant’s statement, the court was asked to play audio recordings between the neurosurgeon and Maradona’s assistant, Maximiliano Pomargo, who was part of Morla’s team.
Among that evidence is an exchange from Nov 7, 2020, when Maradona was admitted to the Olivos Clinic, before his transfer to the house in Tigre, where Pomargo asks Luque “not to let them (the daughters) take him home” because “everyone’s job depends on it.”
»You have to take care of that,» Pomargo asks, to which Luque replies: «Sure, we’ll figure something out.»
In those audio recordings, Pomargo goes so far as to call Jana, one of Maradona’s daughters, an “idiot” for wanting to admit him to a clinic, although he later informs her: “It’s all set, buddy, home(care).” EFE
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