30 May 2025

Mistrial ruled in case against Diego Maradona's medical team, lawyers say

7:33 am on 30 May 2025

By Lucila Sigal, Reuters

Dalma (L) and Gianinna Maradona, daughters of late Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, say goodbye to their lawyer Fernando Burlando after a trial hearing in San Isidro, outskirts of Buenos Aires on May 29, 2025. An Argentine court on Thursday nullified the trial of late football legend Diego Maradona's medical team and ordered a new one, after a judge stepped down over her role in a documentary about the case. (Photo by TOMAS CUESTA / AFP)

Dalma, left, and Gianinna Maradona, daughters of Diego Maradona, say goodbye to their lawyer Fernando Burlando after a trial hearing in San Isidro, Buenos Aires, on May 29, 2025. Photo: AFP / Tomas Cuesta

The homicide case against Diego Maradona's medical team was declared a mistrial, their lawyers said on Thursday.

The 2020 death of the football star who led the Argentine team to World Cup victory from heart failure while he was recovering from surgery shook the nation.

Seven members of his medical team were charged with negligent homicide in a trial that began on 11 March.

The defendants have denied the charges of "simple homicide with eventual intent" in Maradona's treatment. They were facing prison sentences of between eight and 25 years.

The date for the new trial was not initially announced and new judges were not nominated.

The Thursday decision came after one of three judges in the case, Judge Julieta Makintach, resigned on Tuesday in the face of allegations of an ethical breach.

Video surfaced showing her apparently being interviewed by a camera crew as part of a documentary in the corridors of the Buenos Aires courthouse and in her office, which breached judicial rules.

"This is all a great embarrassment," defence attorney Miguel Angel Pierri told media outside the courthouse.

-Reuters