Buenos Aires, Argentina : Following the death trail of former Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, the jury of a courtroom in San Isidro, a suburb of Buenos Aires ordered the arrest of Julio Coria, the former bodyguard during the hearing of perjury. As per reports, this came after noting contradictory statements from Mr. Coria.
The judges highlighted “relevant the references made by the prosecutor concerning the offense of perjury”. Mr. Coria was seen being escorted in handcuffs from the courtroom. There are also seven health professionals who are currently being tried for the negligence that potentially contributed to the death of Diego Maradona, in November 2020. The Seven practitioners are—doctors, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and nurses-trailed for “homicide with intent,” characterized when a person commits negligence knowing it could lead to death. They might face 8 to 25 years in prison . As per reports, this trail is expected to have 120 witnesses .
“Contradictions and omissions”
Mr. Coria was present when Diego Maradona died and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until the medical aid arrived. The prosecution interrupted the bodyguard’s testimony several times and later asked for him to be removed from the courtroom, indicating “contradictions and omissions” in his statements, which further led to a request for his detention for perjury, the offense comes with a sentence of up to 10 years.
Mr. Coria said he had not spoken with Maradona’s personal physician, Mr. Leopoldo Luque who is also accused in the case. However the prosecution presented multiple written messages exchanged between them before and after Diego’s death. Julio Coria said he “didn’t remember them.”
The prosecution requested Mr Coria’s detention,, placing an argument that the witness was “manifestly untruthful.” Mr. Coria had also stated that psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, another of the accused, had attempted to resuscitate Diego Maradona, something he had failed to mention in previous statements.
