Diego Maradona’s therapeutic companion, Carlos Baccini, described the Argentine football superstar as a “difficult” patient in Thursday’s hearing. He also said the star was improving despite being “reluctant to treatment for alcohol addiction.”

Maradona’s companion said he started working with him after he was operated on in November 2020. He assured the court that the star didn’t consume “any alcoholic beverages or drugs” during that time and insisted the rule was strictly enforced at the house where the former star’s home care was set up.

He said Maradona was “feeling well.” Despite the improvement, Baccini said that a member of the star’s entourage — he couldn’t remember who — at some point ordered him not to go by the house anymore.

“He used to play basketball with [grandson] Benjamín and [youngest son] Dieguito Fernando,” Baccini said. “He was happy when his children visited, but then his mood worsened.”

His words echoed what Maradona’s former partner Verónica Ojeda said in her testimony, where she claimed the former star’s struggles were “convenient” to his entourage and that they pushed him away from their son. 

Clínica Olivos ICU chief Fernando Villarejo had also admitted in a previous hearing to receiving orders from Luque and Cosachov to keep the star under sedation. The two claimed that Maradona was “impossible to manage from a behavioral point of view, due to withdrawal.”

Baccini also said he saw Maximiliano Pomargo — brother-in-law to Maradona’s lawyer Matías Morla — and the star’s nephew Jonathan “handle his phone at will.”

Pomargo is one of the parties involved in a parallel investigation regarding the use, control, and exploitation of Maradona’s trademarks. Pomargo, Morla, and two of Maradona’s sisters stand accused of fraud after the former star signed a contract that relinquished control of his trademark to Morla through the company Sattvica S.A. 

The former star’s five heirs claim Maradona was incapacitated to sign the contract, and therefore it was done to their detriment.

A key testimony postponed till Tuesday

Maradona’s therapist, Carlos Díaz, was expected to testify on Thursday, but his statement was postponed until Tuesday. Díaz is one of the three main accused alongside the star’s chief medical advisor, Leopoldo Luque, and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov.

Carlos and Alejandro Cottaro, another pair of Maradona’s therapeutic companions, are also expected to testify on Tuesday.

Thursday’s hearing also saw a recusal on Judge Julieta Makintach rejected. The complaint was introduced by Luque and Cosachov’s lawyers on the grounds of biased questioning. 

Although the court rejected the request, Judge Verónica Di Tomasso will become tribunal president in place of Maximiliano Savarino, who will remain as a member.