A Buenos Aires court ordered the arrest of Julio Cesar Coria, the former bodyguard of soccer legend Diego Maradona, on March 25, after a prosecutor accused Coria of perjury.
Julio Cesar Coria testified at the trial of seven of the eight people charged in connection with Maradona's death. The trial began on March 11 and is expected to last until the summer.
During the trial on March 25, prosecutor Patricio Ferrari accused Coria of lying when he said he had never been in contact with another defendant, Dr Leopoldo Luque, before Maradona's death and was not a friend of the neurosurgeon. The prosecutor presented a series of WhatsApp messages between Coria and Luque, including invitations to barbecues and conversations about Maradona's health.
Ferrari also accused Coria of perjury by failing to mention that another defendant, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, had performed CPR on Maradona in his initial testimony, contrary to what he had said in court. After a short break to discuss the prosecutor's request, the judges ordered Coria's arrest.
The former bodyguard was called as a witness because of his close relationship with Maradona before the superstar's death. Coria was at Maradona's home on November 25, 2020 - the day the former Barcelona and Napoli player died of heart failure. The house in Tigre, near Buenos Aires, was where the "Golden Boy" was treated after leaving hospital with a blood clot in his brain.
Luque, Cosachov and five other medical professionals are on trial. A eighth, nurse Gisella Dahiana Madrid, will be tried separately later this year.
They are charged with murder and could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. During the first hearing on March 11, Ferrari said Maradona's final days were spent in the "House of Horrors". He held up a photo of the Argentine football legend lying on his back on a bed, his black T-shirt pulled up to reveal his bulging stomach and said: "He died like this".
The criminal investigation, which began shortly after Maradona was found lying motionless in bed, was initially classified as an investigation into involuntary manslaughter. It was later reclassified as a murder investigation after a damning report from a medical board concluded that Maradona's care team acted "inappropriately, inadequately and recklessly".
After his death, it was discovered that Maradona had been buried without his heart. The 1986 World Cup winner's heart weighed nearly 503 grams when he died - nearly twice the average heart of a man his age. Doctor and journalist Nelson Castro said at the time that part of the reason was to prevent fans from stealing it.
The trial was initially broadcast live online but was later adjourned. Maradona’s daughter Jana told the court on March 25 that her sisters Dalma and Gianinna wanted to take their father to hospital before he died but were refused by Leopoldo Luque.