Maradona trial collapses over judge's case documentary
The homicide trial of Diego Maradona's medical team collapsed on Thursday after one of the judges was found to have participated in a documentary about the case.
An Argentine court nullified the trial, in which seven members of the football legend's medical team faced charges of negligent homicide, carrying sentences of between eight and 25 years.
On Tuesday, Judge Julieta Makintach recused herself from the case after a video surfaced of her being interviewed inside the Buenos Aires courthouse, in violation of judicial rules.
Judge Maximiliano Savarino said the conduct of his colleague had 'caused prejudice' to the proceedings, which started in March and had already heard more than 40 witnesses.
It was expected to last for four months, but now a new trial will be held with a different panel of judges.
The date for the new trial was not initially announced and new judges were not nominated.
'This is all a great embarrassment,' defence attorney Miguel Angel Pierri told media outside the courthouse.
Ms Makintach, 47, bowed her head and bit her lip as footage of the 'Divine Justice' documentary was played in court earlier this week.
The nearly two-minute-long preview for the series begins with Ms Makintach, striding through the entrance of the courthouse in a white skirt and high heels, and taking a lift to the upper floors.
The trailer is interspersed with news broadcasts of Maradona's death, and an excerpt of an emergency call requesting an ambulance to an address in Buenos Aires.
It ends with Ms Makintach preparing a bundle of documents at a desk in an office lined with ring binders and textbooks.
Patricio Ferrari, prosecuting, denounced Ms Makintach as 'behaving like an actress and not a judge'.
He said Ms Makintach 'spoke about Maradona, the trial, how it was unfolding'.
He added: 'She has been completely influenced by her leading role, by the centrality of her figure.'
The prosecution, the complainants and most of the defence lawyers asked for a new panel of judges to be appointed and the trial, which they consider tainted, restarted.
Maradona died in 2020 aged 60 while recovering from brain surgery.
He had been at his home in Buenos Aires recovering from surgery on a brain blood clot in November 2020 when he died of a heart attack.
Prosecutors have alleged his death could have been avoided and described the care given as 'reckless, deficient and unprecedented'.
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