A new trial began on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in Argentina regarding the 2020 death of football legend Diego Maradona, following a previous trial’s collapse. Seven medical professionals face charges of “simple homicide with eventual intent” (negligent homicide), with potential sentences of 8 to 25 years. The trial examines whether the medical team provided negligent care during his recovery from brain surgery, about a year after the previous case collapsed following the declaration of the trial’s invalidity.
Maradona, who remains a powerful presence in Argentina from giant murals to tattoos, died on November 25, 2020, at the age of 60, after suffering a heart attack while recovering from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Ysidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from nearly 100 witnesses in the trial of Maradona’s medical team for alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup winner.
His medical team has denied any wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Kozakov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Carlos Ángel Díaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almirón, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perrone, and physician Pedro Pablo de España. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, the date of which has not yet been set, according to international news reports.
Two months after the initial trial, which began last March, the proceedings were declared invalid when one of the three judges, Julieta Mackintach, recused herself after a video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the courtroom and in her office as part of a documentary, in violation of judicial rules.
The retrial will require prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial revealed photos, videos, audio recordings, and forensic evidence. Several witnesses, including Maradona’s sons and his ex-wife Claudia Villafañe, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the first trial that doctors violated treatment protocols and that the house where Maradona was recovering from surgery was a “horror scene” where he was not provided with the necessary care.
The defense argued that his death was inevitable given his chronic health problems. Maradona had suffered from cocaine and alcohol addiction for decades.
The negligence charges surfaced in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical commission to investigate Maradona’s death. The commission concluded that his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, inadequate, and reckless” manner.
If convicted, the defendants could face prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years.
