San Isidro (Argentina) (AFP)

"They killed Diego," said Wednesday the lawyer for one of Diego Maradona's nurses, accusing the doctors of the legendary Argentine footballer of being responsible for his death.

Me Rodolfo Baqué assured the media that the 1986 world football champion was administered psychotropic drugs that accelerated his pulse even though he was being treated for a heart disease.

"There is a responsibility of the attending doctors. There have been a lot of red flags that Maradona was going to die overnight. And none of the doctors did anything to prevent it," he said. .

This lawyer defends the nurse Dahiana Madrid, heard Wednesday by the public prosecutor's office of San Isidro, in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, on the circumstances of the death of Maradona on November 25, 2020.

Like the rest of the medical team that treated Maradona, Dahiana Madrid, 36, is under investigation for "simple homicide with possible intent", a crime punishable by 8 to 25 years in prison .

The prosecution notes that Maradona received "insufficient" care from members of the medical team.

"What Dahiana Madrid has done is comply with the indications of the attending doctors," the lawyer told reporters.

Diego Maradona, who suffered from kidney, liver and heart problems, died of a heart attack alone at his residence in Tigre, north of Buenos Aires, just weeks after undergoing brain surgery for a blood clot .

He was 60 years old.

- "Abandoned to his fate" -

In early May, an expert report concluded that the former player had been "abandoned to his fate" by his medical team, whose "inadequate, deficient and reckless" treatment had led him to slow agony.

Dahiana Madrid looked after Diego Maradona by day, while another nurse, Ricardo Almiron, 37, was in charge of watching him at night.

The latter denied having abandoned his patient, claiming to have "received the order not to wake him up" and indicated that he had never been informed that Diego Maradona was suffering from heart disease.

Ricardo Almiron said on Monday that before being relayed by Ms Madrid on the day of the tragedy, Maradona was breathing normally, hours before he was found dead in his bed.

Ms Madrid discovered the former lifeless player and tried to revive him, she explained in a first statement as a witness.

In a report to her superiors, the nurse wrote that she had tried to perform check-ups, which Maradona had refused.

She then admitted that this report had been drawn up at the request of her superiors.

The seven members of the player's medical team face a referral to court depending on the findings of the investigation.

Two daughters of the former Argentina team captain, Gianinna, 32, and Jana, 25, had, shortly after the death, pointed out the responsibility of Leopoldo Luque, the star's personal doctor, in the deterioration of their father's state of health, triggering legal proceedings.

Doctor Leopoldo Luque and the rest of Maradona's medical team will testify in hearings scheduled for June 28.

© 2021 AFP