Seven medical staff to be retried for alleged negligence over football legend’s death in 2020; Previous trial was annulled in May following scandal over documentary involving one of case’s judges
A new trial over the death of football legend Diego Maradona will begin on March 17, 2026, after initial proceedings were dismissed earlier this year, a court in Argentina has ruled.
According to a court document seen by reporters on Wednesday, seven members of Maradona’s medical team will be retried for alleged negligence over the football star’s death in November 2020.
Maradona – widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest-ever players – died on November 25, 2020, aged 60, while recovering at home from brain surgery for a blood clot, after decades battling cocaine and alcohol addiction.
According to the casefile, he died of heart failure, acute pulmonary oedema and dilated cardiomyopathy, just two weeks after going under the knife.
A first trial collapsed in May after one of the judges was revealed to have taken part in a documentary about the proceedings. The other two judges who made up the court subsequently resigned.
A new three-judge panel in San Isidro – composed of Alberto Ortolani, Pablo Rolón and Alberto Gaig, members of Oral Criminal Court (TOC) No. 7 – was appointed in July to conduct a fresh trial.
A preliminary hearing will take place on November 12 to assess “the consideration and admission of the evidence offered,” Wednesday’s court ruling said.
Maradona’s medical team has been charged over the conditions of his home care, which prosecutors described as grossly negligent.
Seven of Maradona’s caregivers face prison terms of between eight and 25 years if convicted of homicide with possible malice aforethought (dolo eventual) – pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to death.
The defendants are neurosurgeon and family doctor Leopoldo Luciano Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, psychologist Carlos Ángel Díaz, medical coordinator Nancy Forlini, nursing coordinator Mariano Perroni, clinician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna, and nurse Ricardo Omar Almirón.
An eighth defendant, nurse Gisela Madrid, will be tried separately before a popular jury in Oral Criminal Court (TOC) No. 3.
Defence lawyers representing Cosachov petitioned the court to annul the new trial on the grounds that a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime.
The judges rejected the claim of double jeopardy, as well as defence motions seeking a jury trial for Luque.
Abandoned trial
The first trial sought to determine the medical team’s responsibility for Maradona’s death.
During that process, questions were raised over both the conditions and the appropriateness of caring for the former footballer at his home in Tigre, a town near San Isidro, following surgery for a subdural haematoma on November 3, 2020.
Several doctors testified at the start of the proceedings that the room where Maradona died was “very dirty, very messy” for a recently operated patient and lacked a defibrillator, among other essential medical equipment.
The judge removed from the case, Julieta Makintach, had taken part in the filming of a documentary about the trial, which was to be titled Justicia Divina (“Divine Justice”).
Makintach became the focus of intense media attention after footage from the documentary was broadcast on national television. She was later suspended from her post and now faces impeachment proceedings.
The new trial will take place at the San Isidro Courthouse, where the court will determine the possible responsibility of the medical professionals for the death of the former Boca Juniors star.
Among the witnesses expected to testify again are Maradona’s daughters Dalma, Gianinna and Jana, and his former partner Verónica Ojeda.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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