The trial over the death of Diego Maradona starts again. Heres all you need to know

The trial over the death of Argentine football superstar Diego Maradona, who perished from an acute pulmonary edema in 2020, is set to start once again on Tuesday. This will be the second time the proceeding goes ahead, after the first court case was declared a mistrial in May 2025. The trial centers around the circumstances of his death and the attention he received from his doctors and nurses, following the findings of a medical board that determined they had failed to administer proper medical care to their patient. Hearings will be conducted by judges Alberto Ortolani, Alberto Gaig and Pablo Rolón, who will receive testimonies from a reduced number of witnesses, dropping from the over 200 listed for the original trial to around 100. Those who gave their testimonies in the first trial will have to do so again. “At the Public Prosecutor’s Office, we are working to ensure a prompt, fair, and effective trial,” said Patricio Ferrari, one of the three prosecutors in charge of the case, to the Herald. “We want a trial characterized by the consistent presentation of high-quality evidence based on nearly a hundred testimonies and substantial evidence of various kinds, obtained by this very prosecution team through a range of investigative techniques. Within this framework, our goal is to prevent impunity for those responsible for the death of Diego Maradona.” What happened to Diego Maradona? Maradona was found unconscious around midday on November 25, 2020, at his home in the San Andrés gated community in Tigre, Buenos Aires Province, and was pronounced dead two hours later. Immediately after his death, family members questioned the circumstances surrounding his demise, as well as the care he was given in the years prior by those in charge of his well-being.  The medical board that examined Maradona’s case found the treatment he received was “inappropriate, inadequate, and reckless.” The board claimed he “showed unmistakable signs of prolonged agony” and “was left to fend for himself.” On April 18, 2023, the San Isidro Criminal Chamber of Appeals and Guarantees elevated the case to a trial.  Eight people stand accused of failing to administer proper medical care to Maradona, chiefly Maradona’s main medical advisor, Leopoldo Luque, as well as his psychiatrist, Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist, Carlos Díaz.  They, along with medical care coordinators Nancy Forlini and Mariano Perroni, designated doctor Pedro Di Spagna, and nurses Ricardo Almirón and Dahiana Madrid, were charged with involuntary manslaughter. In October 2024, Madrid was granted a trial by jury, rather than Argentina’s established proceedings led by a judge, and faces a separate trial before magistrate María Coelho. What happened with the first trial? The original court case started over a year ago, in March 2025, after being pushed back nine months from its original date. In the trial’s opening hearing, Ferrari showed a striking image of the former football player in his bed at the time of his death, with signs of swelling and severe physical deterioration. “This is how Maradona died,” he said, showing the shocking picture of the star, which led his daughters, present in court, to cry. The case centered around the former footballer’s health. Witnesses testified that his condition had been deteriorating “for at least ten days” prior to his death, painting a picture of a Maradona who looked lost in his final days. Others criticized the state of the home-care installations set up in the house he had just moved into during the COVID lockdown. Maradona’s eldest daughter Dalma said she couldn’t recognize her father in the days leading up to the star’s death. She testified that he “wouldn’t laugh” and seemed unable to “understand who was on the other side” during video calls.  Her younger sister Giannina echoed the sentiment, recalling an instance when the star told her “nobody had joined him” for his 60th birthday, and she had to remind him it wasn’t for another 20 days. Cosachov, the only one of the accused to give her version of events, rebutted accusations that Maradona’s medical team was responsible for deciding to put him in home care, three weeks after he had surgery to remove a subdural hematoma, on November 3. However, the trial was declared null and void by judges Maximiliano Savarino and Verónica Di Tommaso after evidence surfaced that the third judge, Julieta Mackintach, had allowed the illegal entry of cameras into the court to film an unauthorized documentary of the proceedings, which would focus on her. The judges said she had taken part in “multiple discussions with witnesses and lawyers” during breaks in the daily proceedings, “to the detriment of all parties, thereby rendering the proceedings null and void.” In November 2025, a Buenos Aires Province judicial board removed Judge Makintach from her post and banned her from serving in the Argentine judiciary for life. A new set of judges was chosen via random draw in June 2025, landing with the San Isidro 7th Criminal Court, headed by Roberto Gaig, Alejandro Lago, and María Coehlo.  Coelho stepped down immediately due to her involvement in Madrid’s case and was replaced by Ortolani. Lago would also excuse himself a month later, claiming he suffered from a series of conditions that rendered him unable to face the “intensity and emotional burden of the trial,” with Rolón selected very soon after.