(Reuters) – Eight healthcare workers will go on trial over the death of Diego Maradona after being charged with “homicide by negligence”, Argentine media reported on Wednesday.

The footballing great, who led Argentina to a second World Cup title in 1986, died aged 60 in November 2020 from heart failure after undergoing brain surgery days earlier.

A court in San Isidro, a town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, rejected defence appeals for a lesser charge and upheld a year-old indictment by prosecutors for “reckless and inefficient work” in the treatment of the former Boca Juniors and Napoli player, TV channel TN reported.

The process is unlikely to start until next year and the defendants could face prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years, the reports said.

(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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