In the northern Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro, where the long examination of Diego Maradona’s final days has unfolded, the closing witness has opened an unexpected line of argument. Pablo Ferrari, the court-appointed forensic expert who was last to testify, told the tribunal that Covid-19 cannot be excluded as a possible factor in Maradona’s death during the first pandemic year.
Maradona died on 25 November 2020 while receiving home treatment in a house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Ferrari said the absence of a coronavirus test during the post-mortem examination was a methodological mistake. In his evidence, he noted that the virus enters through the respiratory system and, in severe cases, can rapidly prove fatal.
The possibility had not been raised through the previous 43 hearings, which heard from 76 witnesses. Ferrari took part in an expert assessment requested in 2025 by the defence of Leopoldo Luque, the doctor presented throughout the case as having principal responsibility for the former footballer’s medical care.
A different account of Maradona’s final hours
Ferrari’s assessment also challenges the timing advanced by other official experts at the beginning of the trial. Earlier testimony held that Maradona may have endured an agony lasting as long as 12 hours. Ferrari instead argued that fluid built up in his lungs over a much shorter interval — potentially minutes or only a few hours — causing him to drown before suffering cardiac arrest.
“His agony must have lasted only a few minutes,” Ferrari told the court. Defence-appointed specialists had already maintained that the death was sudden, but Ferrari is the only official expert to have reached that conclusion. His testimony therefore carries particular significance for Luque’s defence.
The case moves towards final arguments
The proceedings began on 14 April at the San Isidro courts. Luque is on trial alongside psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov; Swiss Medical home-care coordinator Nancy Forlini; psychologist Carlos Díaz; nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni; nurse Ricardo Almirón; and clinical doctor Pedro Di Spagna.
All seven face accusations of simple homicide with possible intent, a charge based on the allegation that they accepted the risk their conduct could lead to Maradona’s death. The defendants are due to expand their statements at the next hearing on 29 September. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin on 6 October, with the trial expected to continue until the end of that month.
