A 37-year-old woman, Mavys Álvarez has accused star Argentine professional football player Diego Maradona and his entourage of violence, abuse, rape, and holding her against her will.
Álvarez gave the testimony last week to an Argentine Ministry of Justice court. The footballer had died last year in November while undergoing brain surgery on a blood clot.
She told the press in Buenos Aires about how she met Maradona when he was in his forties and she was 16 years old. He was reportedly undergoing drug treatment during that time.
“I was dazzled, he won me over… But after two months everything started to change. He had pushed her into trying cocaine, in turn making her dependent. I loved him but I hated him too, I even thought about suicide. He covers my mouth, he rapes me, I don’t want to think about it too much. I stopped being a girl, all my innocence was stolen from me. It’s hard. You stop living the innocent things that a girl of that age has to experience,” said Álvarez.
Álvarez has not filed a complaint herself but has given the testimonies only. Taking note of her confessions in the American media, an Argentine NGO “Foundation For Peace” has filed the complaint in connection to human trafficking, deprivation of liberty, forced servitude, assault, and battery.
As per the reports, she will share the evidence this week in Buenos Aires with an Argentine prosecutor.
“I have done what I had to do, the rest I leave to the courts. I achieved my goal: to say what happened to me, to prevent it from happening to others, or at least so that other girls feel the strength, the courage to speak up,” said Álvarez.
Five members of Maradona’s entourage have denied the allegations and one of them has filed a counter-complaint against the NGO Foundation for Peace.
