Carlos Cottaro told the Maradona death trial on Tuesday that Agustina Cosachov told him to make an impasse and that he was never called again to accompany Diego Maradona. The therapist said the decision came only a few days after Maradona had moved into domiciliary hospitalization, a period now at the center of the case over the seven defendants.
That testimony matters because the trial is no longer only about what happened to Maradona at the end of his life, but about who controlled his daily care and who was pushed out of it. Cottaro said he had been called in by Mario Schiter after the head surgery and stayed with Diego from when he woke up until November 11, when Maradona was already in domiciliary hospitalization in Tigre.
Cottaro described a relationship that, by his account, had been personal as well as medical. He said he and Maradona talked, sang and watched football together, and that he was surprised when he was displaced. He also said he had been an addict, and that the experience gave him a different kind of access and empathy with patients. In his view, accompaniment was not just about talking through life, but about watching how the patient was doing, who he felt comfortable with and at what moment.
He went further and said the problem was not his bond with Maradona, but the environment around him. Cottaro said he was told there were too many people near Diego and that Diego was bothered by so many people. He said, in words that captured the way he saw the case, that everyone was speaking for Diego, while Diego himself never spoke. He added that it was the environment around Diego that was saying those things.
That friction sits at the heart of the testimony. Cottaro said he had a good relationship with Maradona and that they got along well, but he was still removed from the care team after Cosachov told him to make an impasse. He also said his brother, who was another accompanying therapist, heard the same thing. The prosecution had already called two accompanying therapists who were removed from Maradona’s domiciliary hospitalization a few days after he moved in, and Cottaro’s account gives that removal a direct, named explanation.
Another thread in the hearing points to how the case will keep unfolding. Agustina Cosachov showed chats with Nancy Forlini from a few days after Maradona’s discharge, while Mariano Perroni has said he will answer questions from all lawyers to clarify his position. Gisela Madrid, the other accused in the case, is set to face a separate jury trial later. For now, the testimony leaves one thing clear: the fight in the courtroom is over who was managing Maradona’s care, and who was cut out when that care began to fail.
