Diego Maradona Death Probe Restarts: Doctors Risk 25 Years in Prison

Maradona medical team faces retrial for homicide with possible intent

A new trial into the 2020 death of football legend Diego Maradona starts Tuesday in Argentina. Seven medical staff face 8–25 years in prison if convicted of homicide with possible intent, a year after the first trial was annulled over judicial misconduct.

Year after collapse, second Maradona death trial begins in Argentina...

A new trial over the death of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona begins Tuesday, a year after a scandal involving a judge caused the first trial to collapse.

Maradona, regarded as one of the world’s greatest players, died in November 2020 aged 60 while recovering from brain surgery at a private residence.

He died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema - a condition where fluid builds up in the lungs - two weeks after undergoing surgery.

His seven-person medical team was indicted over the conditions of his convalescence in the northern Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre, which prosecutors described as grossly negligent.

But two and a half months into their trial, after hours of sometimes tearful testimony from witnesses including Maradona’s children, the proceedings were halted.

The trial was annulled in May 2025 after it emerged that one of the judges, Julieta Makintach, was involved in a documentary about the case, potentially breaching ethics rules.

Makintach was later impeached..

The new trial, set to hear from about 120 witnesses, will again seek to determine whether Maradona’s medical team is responsible for his death.

Seven health professionals - doctors, psychologists, and nurses - who were treating him when he died are accused of homicide with possible intent, meaning they pursued a course of action despite knowing it could lead to death.

Un momento para la eternidad y la entrada en calor más épica de la historia del fútbol 👏🏼🔝

Diego Maradona al ritmo de “Live is Life”, un día como hoy pero hace 33 años jugando por el @sscnapoliES ⚽🎵#DiegoEterno 🔟♾ pic.twitter.com/NTUxcgDDr6

— CONMEBOL.com (@CONMEBOL) April 19, 2022

They face prison terms of eight to 25 years if convicted.

The defence argues the larger-than-life Maradona, who battled cocaine and alcohol addictions, died of natural causes.

“If there's one thing that has been ruled out, it's a malicious criminal plan to kill Maradona. Anyone who continues to maintain that is cruel to the family and the accused,” Vadim Mischanchuk, lawyer for psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, told Radio Con Vos on Sunday.

Read Also: Diego Maradona's Medical Team Faces New Trial Over His Death 

News of the 1986 World Cup winner’s death brought hundreds of thousands of Argentines onto the streets to mourn during the Covid pandemic.

The trial is expected to run until July.