Tuesday’s hearing in the trial over the death of Diego Maradona saw another big blow for the accused, as Clinica Olivos ICU chief Fernando Villarejo admitted to receiving orders to keep the star under sedation.

“We had him sedated for 24 hours,” said Villarejo, who added the star’s chief medical adviser, Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov requested he do it, before claiming Maradona was “impossible to manage from a behavioral point of view, due to withdrawal.”

The ICU chief said he refused due to the risks, but that Luque and Cosachov insisted. He initially accepted, but later lowered the dosage as the former star’s team didn’t present any further plans to continue the abstinence.

“We decided to start using our judgment and lower the dose of sedation. If something had happened, it would’ve been my responsibility,” he said.

Villarejo added that he complained to Luque and Cosachov over their handling of Maradona’s case, insisting to them the former star required a multidisciplinary team to oversee his situation. He also said he was against the home care for Maradona and that he recommended that the former star be treated in a rehabilitation center with a multidisciplinary staff focused on his withdrawal symptoms.

“Maradona wasn’t a patient for home care,” he said. “We had him under watch and he should’ve stayed there.”

Villarejo insisted Maradona’s home care would have required a level of care similar to a medical institution, which is difficult to attain and sustain.

“It should have been a home care almost like an institutional hospitalization,” he said. “He needed a doctor close to him, a therapeutic companion, a strict control to ensure that he didn’t do anything against recommendations, such as eating and drinking anything, [or] self-medicating. That is very difficult to control in a home environment.”

Seven people are on trial for Maradona’s death, accused of involuntary manslaughter. Along with Luque and Cosachov, psychologist Carlos Díaz, medical care coordinators Nancy Forlini and Mariano Perroni, designated doctor Pedro Di Spagna, and nurse Ricardo Almirón are on the stand. Another nurse, Dahiana Madrid was granted a trial by jury and will have a separate process, which at present has no date confirmed.