Five years after the death of Diego Armando Maradona, the case is stalled following the nullification of the trial. The reason was the former judgeJulieta Makintach, who was removed from office in a disciplinary panel. Sources close to the case report that a preliminary hearing is expected on December 2.
The Argentine star died on November 25, 2020, during a home stay in the gated community of San Andrés, in the Tigre district of Buenos Aires Province, from an acute pulmonary edema secondary to a chronic cardiac insufficiency. The former player of Boca, Napoli, Barcelona, and the Argentine national team was at his home in Benavídez after being discharged on November 11 from the Olivos Clinic, where he had undergone surgery for a subdural hematoma earlier that month.
Diego was found dead at noon in his bed. He was bloated and had livor mortis in several parts of his body. The bedroom windows were boarded up, no natural light entered, and the patient used a portable toilet.
Eight people are accused of the simple homicide with eventual intent of the 1986 World Cup champion: they are neurosurgeon and Maradona's former personal physician, Leopoldo Luque; psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov; psychologist Carlos Díaz; clinical physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna; nurses Ricardo Omar Almirón and Dahiana Gisela Madrid; their boss, Mariano Perroni; and Nancy Edith Forlini, the Swiss Medical doctor who coordinated Diego's care in the northern area.
The crime carries a sentence of 8 to 25 years in prison, under Article 79 of the Penal Code. Madrid is the only accused who will face a jury trial, which will be held by the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) No. 7 of San Isidro once the main trial is over. The oral and public trial against the other seven began on March 11 at TOC No. 3, with judges Maximiliano Savarino (presiding), Verónica Di Tomasso, and Julieta Makintach (substitute and presiding judge of TOC 2).
Throughout that process, 44 witnesses testified, including Dalma and Gianinna (two of the victim's daughters); Verónica Ojeda (ex-wife and mother of Dieguito Fernando); Ana, Rita, and Estela (sisters); lawyer Víctor Stinfale; former head of security Julio César Coria (detained for alleged false testimony); the professionals who performed the autopsy; and doctors from the Ipensa (La Plata) and Olivos clinics.
However, the evidence presented—such as the necropsy, clinical history, and cardiology reports—and the testimonies were invalidated because images emerged of Makintach walking through the courthouse halls, an interview in her office about the trial, and her driving her car towards the building.
Furthermore, a camera entered the courtroom, filming the former judge who was attentively observing the parties. She voted in favor of Coria's arrest and expelled lawyer Rodolfo Baqué (Madrid's defender) for a "conflict of interests." One of the investigating prosecutors, Patricio Ferrari, presented fragments from the first episode of the documentary 'Justicia Divina' and a script that was used to create the audiovisual project.
The scandal led to tears from Gianinna and Ojeda, while Baqué got up from his seat to shout "trash" at Makintach, who claimed: "This is not mine." The former judicial official was expelled from the trial, and Savarino and Di Tomasso declared the process null and void in late May.
Coria; lawyer Fernando Burlando; the president of the Foundation for Peace and Climate Change, Fernando Míguez; provincial senator Florencia Arietto; and other complainants filed requests for a political trial against Makintach to judge her conduct during the hearing.
On Tuesday, November 18, the Disciplinary Panel unanimously voted in the Buenos Aires Senate Annex to remove the implicated official and disqualify her from holding positions in the Judicial Branch, while a criminal case was initiated in UFI No. 1 of San Isidro for the crimes of passive bribery, violation of official duties, abuse of authority, embezzlement of public funds, and peculation of services.
Burlando requested the woman's arrest, but the Guarantees Court rejected it and also dismissed the appeal filed by the accused to recuse the prosecutors Carolina Asprella, Cecilia Chaieb, and José Ignacio Amallo.
Meanwhile, the trial for Maradona's death will resume on March 17, 2026, and on December 2, a preliminary hearing (under the terms of Article 338) will be held to reach evidentiary agreements between the plaintiffs, the defense, and the prosecution.
