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Highway Case: Justice orders the confiscation of assets of Cristina Kirchner and the other convicted

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⚖️ Highway Case: Justice orders the confiscation of assets of Cristina Kirchner and the other convicted

By Redacción Judicial | 📅 April 25, 2026

In an unprecedented ruling that marks a milestone in the recovery of assets from corruption, the Court determined the beginning of the execution of assets of the main convicts in the so-called Highway Case. The measure seeks to cover the economic damage against the National State, estimated at billions of pesos.


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Absolute link to reference image: Scales of justice and law)


🚩 The focus of the resolution: Recovering state heritage

The judicial decision instructs the corresponding agencies to identify, appraise and execute the assets of those found guilty of fraudulent administration. Among those affected by the measure are former Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, businessman Lázaro Báez and former officials of the Public Works portfolio.

The ruling stresses that the confiscation is not only an accessory sanction, but a restorative justice tool  necessary to correct the diversion of public funds that should have been allocated to road infrastructure in the province of Santa Cruz.

💰 Figures and assets under the magnifying glass

Justice has set its sights on a complex web of properties and values that include:

  • 🏢 Real Estate: Hotels in Patagonia and apartments in CABA.
  • 🚜 Machinery: The automotive and road fleet of Lázaro Báez's companies.
  • 🏦 Accounts and Securities: Financial assets that were preventively frozen during the investigation of the case.

"The execution of these assets represents a fundamental step in the fight against financial impunity," said judicial sources close to the process.


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The technical breakdown of the assets ordered for confiscation by the Federal Court of Criminal Cassation amounts to a record figure of $684,990,350,139.86 (approximately 537 million dollars). According to the latest expert report and the judicial resolution of April 2026, the auction will affect a total of 111 properties and various financial assets distributed among the main convicts.

Words of Law

📂 Detailed Breakdown of Assets by Ownership

The asset enforcement process is divided into the following asset cores:

  • Lázaro Báez and related companies: It is the largest contributor to the seizure with 84 properties.
    • Real Estate in Santa Cruz and Chubut: Includes 49 properties (lots, farms and ranches) in towns such as Río Gallegos, El Calafate and Río Turbio.
    • Assets of Austral Construcciones: Road machinery and industrial properties used for the fraudulent maneuver.
    • Shared properties: 34 properties that already had previous seizures in other corruption cases.
  • Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her children (Máximo and Florencia): The ruling ratifies the execution of assets that had been transferred to her children in 2016.
    • Direct Properties: A plot of land of more than 6,000 square meters in El Calafate in the name of the former president.
    • Transferred Properties (19 properties): Apartments in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (including units in the Madero Center building), land in Santa Cruz and shares in the Los Sauces Casa Patagonica hotel complex.
    • Current Residence: The Justice has put under the magnifying glass the apartment located at San José 1111 (CABA), where the former president currently resides.
  • Financial Assets and Cash:
    • Safe Deposit Boxes: Seizure of US$ 4,664,000 found in boxes in the name of Florencia Kirchner.
    • Bank Accounts: An amount of US$ 992,134 detected in a savings account of Banco Galicia, in addition to smaller balances in pesos.

⚙️ Enforcement and Appraisal Procedure

  1. Update of the Amount: The original figure of 84,835 million pesos for 2022 was updated by the Body of Experts of the Supreme Court using inflation indices to reflect the real value of the damage to the public treasury.
  2. Expired Term: After the expiration of the period of 10 working days for the voluntary deposit of money, the Federal Oral Court 2 was empowered to initiate public auctions of the appraised assets.
  3. Destination of the Funds: Although the law suggests financing the Financial Information Unit (UIF), prosecutors Luciani and Mola have requested that the proceeds of the auctions be used as a priority for the construction of schools and hospitals.

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⏱ ESTIMATED READING TIME: 7 MINUTES |  🗓 APR 23, 2026 |  📰 UNIVERSITY CONFLICT

SEO keywords: federal university march 2026, Argentina university budget, University Financing Law, teacher salaries, Milei universities

 

TWO YEARS OF RESISTANCE: THE ARGENTINE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY RETURNS TO THE STREETS

On the second anniversary of the historic Federal University March of April 23, 2024, the Argentine higher education system is mobilizing again. The fourth federal march is called for May 12, 2026, with funds cut by 45.6%, wages in free fall and a judicial law that the government refuses to apply.

 

📅 Date of the march

Tuesday, May 12, 2026 — Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires

🏛 Conveners

CIN · Union Front of National Universities · GO

📜 Law in dispute

University Financing Law No. 27,795

📉 Budget fall

45.6% since 2023 (CIN data)

💰 Loss of teacher salaries

Between 30% and 50% of purchasing power since Nov. 2023

⚖️ Latest court ruling

Cont. Camera Adm. Fed. — March 31, 2026: Ruling in favor of universities

 

 

🖼 See image: Federal University March 23A – 2024 (Wikimedia Commons)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Marcha_Federal_Universitaria_-_23A_-_Argentina_%282024%29.jpg/1200px-Marcha_Federal_Universitaria_-_23A_-_Argentina_%282024%29.jpg

▲ Federal University March on April 23, 2024. More than 430,000 people throughout the country. Source: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

🎓 The anniversary that no one celebrates

This April 23 marks exactly two years since the first Federal University March, that mobilization that brought together approximately 430,000 people throughout the Argentine territory and that forced the government of President Javier Milei to sit down to dialogue with rectors, unions and students. It was an unprecedented postcard in the country's recent history: faculties in the dark, classrooms empty, and hundreds of thousands of citizens marching in defense of free, public higher education.

Two years later, the conflict was not only not resolved, but deepened. May 12, 2026 will be the date of the fourth federal march, jointly convened by the National Interuniversity Council (CIN), the Trade Union Front of National Universities and the Argentine University Federation (FUA), under the slogan: "Federal march for education, the public university and national science".

 

📉 The adjustment in numbers: what the budget does not cover

The data speak for themselves and are as forceful as they are alarming. According to the CIN, fund transfers to public universities fell by 45.6% since 2023 in real terms. Teaching and non-teaching salaries, which represent 90% of the university budget, have accumulated a loss of between 30% and 50% of purchasing power since November 2023, when Milei won the presidential runoff.

"Salaries are the lowest in 40 years," said Clara Chevalier, secretary general of Conadu. For its part, the Federation of University Teachers (Fedun) reported that the sector's revenues have been falling in real terms for 17 consecutive months. In March 2026, while official inflation was 3.4%, the government ordered a wage increase of 1.7% – exactly half of what is needed to maintain purchasing power.

Added to this is the collapse of Progresar student scholarships: according to the National Economy Research Center (CIEN), between 2023 and 2025 the number of beneficiaries fell by 62.4%, while the purchasing power of each scholarship fell by 46.5%. To return to December 2023 levels, investment in this area should grow by 63%.

45,6%

Fall in the university budget since 2023

−40%

Average loss of real teacher salary

−62.4%

Reduction of Progresar scholarships (beneficiaries)

 

 

 

⚖️ The law that the Executive refuses to comply with

At the center of the conflict is the University Financing Law No. 27,795, sanctioned by the National Congress on August 22, 2024. The regulation establishes the monthly update for inflation of the salary and operating expenses of national state universities, and implies a 51% increase for teachers and non-teachers in order to recover what has been lost since December 2023.

The Executive Branch vetoed the law in October 2024, which triggered the second federal march. In an unprecedented legislative maneuver, Congress rejected the veto in December. However, the government enacted the rule without implementing it, citing "lack of funds." The answer came from the Courts: on December 23, 2025, the judge of first instance Martín Cormick ordered immediate compliance with articles 5 and 6 of the law, referring to salary and scholarship updates. The State appealed the measure.

On March 31, 2026, Chamber III of the National Court of Appeals in Federal Administrative Litigation confirmed the ruling of the first instance and ratified the precautionary measure in favor of the universities. The sentence was signed by judges Sergio Gustavo Fernández and Jorge Eduardo Morán. Even so, the government maintains the non-compliance.

"If the government continues to break the law, we will continue in a situation of permanent conflict, with mobilizations, with strikes, with the university community in the streets. The country is most at risk."

— Guillermo Durán, dean of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences (UBA)

 

 

📢 The voices of the conflict

Rectors, unions and students speak with a common voice, although from different positions. From the CIN, the organization that brings together rectors from all over the country, Rector Bartolacci summarized the collective feeling: "We are all aware of the economic situation of the country and that there are many sectors that are having a very bad time. But we are demanding a decent salary for those who have the responsibility of training the future generations of professionals that Argentina needs."

On the union front, Patricio Grande, professor at the National University of Luján and member of the executive board of Conadu Histórica, explained the wage urgency: to recover the purchasing power of December 2023, workers should receive more than a 50% increase. On the other hand, the general secretary of Fedun, Daniel Ricci, expanded the call for the march: he asked that it not only be from the university sector, but that it convene the whole of society.

From the student sector, Joaquín Carvalho, president of the FUA and student at the National University of Rosario, warned: "The government does not respond to the need to invest in education, and is pushing the situation towards a scenario of great conflict." Carvalho stressed that the bloc between rectors, unions and students remains solid.

 

🗓 Chronology of the conflict: four marches, two years

🏛 APR 2024

1st Federal University March — April 23, 2024. Approximately 430,000 people throughout the country. The government agreed to negotiate and granted a 270% increase in operating expenses.

📜 AUG 2024

Congress approves the University Financing Law No. 27,795 (August 22, 2024). The Executive threatens with a veto.

✋ OCT 2024

2nd Federal March: against the presidential veto. The government suspended the application of the law by decree.

🏛 SEP 2025

3rd Federal March: Congress rejects the veto. The Executive Branch "promulgates" the law but does not apply it.

⚖️ MAR 2026

The Federal Administrative Court confirms the ruling of the first instance (March 31, 2026). The government is flouting the court order.

🚶 MAY 2026

4th Federal March called for May 12, 2026. Prior to this, a week of strike from April 27 to May 2 (Conadu Histórica).

 

 

 

🔬 The Japanese-style strike: the most creative protest

In the weeks leading up to the new march, different faculties throughout the country implemented a new form of protest called "Japanese-style strike": instead of being absent, teaching and non-teaching workers set up free health care posts at the doors of the faculties. In the City of Buenos Aires, thousands of people received dental care, dental prostheses were made, glasses were distributed and blood tests were performed. In addition, 500 pets were cared for by university veterinarians.

 

🔮 The Government's position and the projected scenario

In response to the complaints, the Executive proposed in February 2026 an alternative project that does not repeal Law No. 27,795 but modifies its central points. The official text offers an increase of 12.3% in three installments (March, July and September), well below the 51% established by the current law. In addition, it contemplates the updating of operating expenses only if inflation exceeds 14.5%, without recognizing the losses accumulated during 2024.

The proposal was flatly rejected by the university system, and at the close of this edition it had no date for parliamentary treatment. Rector Olmedo, from the National University of Formosa, summarized the situation: "They are reaching a peak where many universities no longer want to open the Faculties because the budget is not updated."

"On May 12, we once again call on all Argentines to participate in the march in defense of the public university and democracy."

— Daniel Ricci, Fedun Secretary General

 

 

 

🔍 SEO Sheet & Metadata

 

 

📚 Sources consulted

     Infobae Education · "Public universities prepare a fourth federal march on May 12" — Apr 22, 2026

     The Uncovering · "Trampled Wages and Minimum Budget: The Reasons for the Federal University March" — Apr 21, 2026

     APF Digital · "The fourth Federal University March already has a date: It will be on May 12" — Apr 22, 2026

     Agenfor · "National Universities Set the Date for the Fourth Federal March" — Apr 22, 2026

     Infobae Education · "Public universities start classes with a week of protests" — 15 Mar. 2026

 

 

© 2026 · Argentine University Journalism · All rights reserved · Typography: Montserrat · SEO Optimized

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frsigns/broche.pngElectoral Reform in Argentina - 22/04/2026 » 06:00 by cronywell

Electoral Reform in Argentina

🏛️ NATIONAL POLICY   |   ⏱️ Estimated reading time: 6 minutes (~1,100 words)

Electoral Reform in Argentina: Milei promotes the elimination of the PASO, Clean Record and changes in party financing

President Javier Milei announced from Israel that he was sending to Congress a bill that could radically redesign the rules of the democratic game before the 2027 legislative elections

 

📅

Date

April 22, 2026

✍️

Sources

Infobae · Profile · The Capital · Diario Uno · Río Negro

🏷️

SEO keywords

Argentina's electoral reform, eliminate PASO, Clean Sheet, Milei Congress 2026

📂

Category

National Policy · Electoral System · Legislative

 

 

📸 Reference image:

🔗  See image: Javier Milei — Reuters/AP (external reference)

Photo caption: President Javier Milei announced the electoral reform from Israel, where he participated in the Israeli Independence Day event with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Buenos Aires, April 22, 2026. — President Javier Milei shook the political chessboard on Tuesday by announcing, through a message published on the social network X from Israel, the immediate sending to the National Congress of a comprehensive electoral reform project. The initiative contemplates three backbones: the definitive elimination of the Primary, Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory (PASO); a reformulation of the system of financing political parties; and the reinstatement of the figure of Clean Record – already rejected by the Senate in May 2025 – to prevent people convicted of corruption from accessing national elective positions.

 

"TOMORROW WE WILL SEND THE ELECTORAL REFORM TO CONGRESS. WE ELIMINATE THE PASO: enough of forcing Argentines to pay internal caste fees. WE CHANGE FINANCING: politics ends living out of your pocket. CLEAN RECORD: the corrupt OUT forever. IMPUNITY IS OVER. THE IS OVER. LONG LIVE FUCKING FREEDOM...!!" — Javier Milei, via X (@JMilei), April 21, 2026

 

The announcement came as Milei was closing his third trip to Israel, where he participated in the celebrations for the anniversary of that state's independence and was seen with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president sang the song "Libre", by Nino Bravo, before a crowd that cheered him, on a day that also marked a strong sign of foreign policy.

 

📌 Context: What are the PASO and why does Milei seek to eliminate them?

The Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries were created in 2009, during the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, through Law No. 26,571. Since then, they have been held on the third Sunday of August of each election year and enable all citizens – regardless of their affiliation – to participate in the internal selection of candidates of each political force.

Its operation fulfills three central functions: to order the internal competition of the parties, to enable competition between lists within the same force and to act as an electoral filter prior to the general election. However, the system is subject to sustained criticism of the cost to the public treasury of organizing an additional election whose result, in many cases, does not define truly competitive candidates.

During the 2025 legislative elections, Milei's government managed to suspend the PASO through a measure approved in the Senate on February 20 of that year. Now, the Executive is going a step further and proposing its permanent elimination from the Argentine electoral system.

 

⚡ THE THREE AXES OF ELECTORAL REFORM

  1. Elimination of the PASO: definitive suppression of open primaries to reduce public spending and for each party to manage its own internal elections.

  2. Change in financing: restriction or elimination of direct public financing of parties and campaigns, progressive transfer to private funds.

  3. Clean Record: impediment for those convicted in the second instance for corruption crimes to run as candidates for national elective positions.

 

💰 The debate over political financing

The second axis of the reform aims to transform the structure of economic support of party activity. The current system contemplates public financing for campaigns, free spaces for electoral advertising and ordinary operation of the parties, complemented by private contributions with regulated ceilings.

The proposal of the Executive Branch seeks to reduce the weight of the State in this scheme, in line with the cut in public spending that constitutes the core of the economic policy of the libertarian administration. If the change prospers, financing would tend to move to private sources or internal resources of each force, with a direct impact on the campaign structure and party organization, especially for the smaller parties.

"Politics is over living out of your pocket" — J. Milei

 

🧾 Clean Record: a battle that the ruling party wants to reopen

The Clean Record initiative — which would prevent those convicted in the second instance from running for national elective office — has a recent and controversial legislative history. The bill obtained half approval in the Chamber of Deputies, but was rejected in the Senate in May 2025 in an extremely close vote.

The defeat in the upper house was marked by the vote of the missionary senators of the Renewal, Carlos Arce and Sonia Rojas Decut, whose position ended up tipping the balance against the ruling party. The law, if approved, would have left former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, convicted in the second instance in corruption cases, out of competence.

Now, the Casa Rosada is relaunching the proposal, but this time integrated into the broader electoral reform package, with the expectation that the political momentum and the pre-electoral context of 2027 will generate more favorable conditions for its approval.

 

⚠️ LEGISLATIVE POINTS OF TENSION

  PRO and UCR resist the elimination of the PASO: they see them as a tool to manage their internal elections and settle conflicts of candidacies in alliances.

  Ficha Limpia has already been rejected in the Senate (May 2025): the Casa Rosada will have to add the votes it could not get the previous time.

  The ruling party needs 129 votes in the Chamber of Deputies and 37 in the Senate to approve the elimination of the PASO.

  Some leaders of the ruling party itself would prefer to suspend the PASO instead of eliminating them definitively.

  The proximity of the 2027 electoral calendar will condition the predisposition of the blocs to vote for structural changes in the rules of the game.

 

🗣️ Political reactions

From the ruling bloc, Deputy Lilia Lemoine was one of the first to come out to defend the initiative on social networks: "The vote of each deputy and each senator in this project will be very revealing. Those who oppose it will make it clear that they see politics as a business," he said.

The Secretary of Communication, Javier Lanari, was in the same vein: "No good political party can oppose this agenda," he said, aiming to install a political cost for those who reject the reform.

However, in the corridors of Congress the panorama is more complex. Parliamentary sources from the PRO and the UCR expressed reservations regarding the elimination of the PASO, arguing that the mechanism, despite its costs, allows them to resolve their internal conflicts and legitimize themselves in the eyes of the electorate. "If we go together in Buenos Aires, we will have to resolve it this way or Karina (Milei) will come and want to impose the candidate on us," said a radical legislator off the record.

In the entourage of the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, it was learned that the deputy from La Rioja had asked the Casa Rosada to delay sending the bill until he was certain about the votes necessary to approve it. Milei's own early announcement from Israel ended that possibility.

 

🔮 Perspectives: What can happen in Congress?

The formal submission of the bill opens a stage of intense negotiation in Congress. The ruling party knows that it faces two simultaneous fronts: the resistance of its own allies – PRO and radicalism – to the elimination of the PASO, and the need to recompose the support that was lacking to approve Ficha Limpia last year.

Political analysts consulted by this newspaper agree that the legislative treatment is unlikely to take place before the second half of the year, considering that in the first half of the year the focus will be on the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and that the proximity to the electoral calendar will condition the willingness of the blocs to vote on structural changes.

The government's bet seems to be long-term: to install public debate, make visible the position of each legislator and build political capital for 2027. "Impunity is over. The is over," Milei repeated, making it clear that the axis of the upcoming campaign already has a name.

 

📊 KEY FACTS AND FIGURES

  2009: year of creation of the PASO (Law No. 26,571), during the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

  2025: The PASO were suspended for the legislative elections of that year, promoted by the government and approved in the Senate on February 20.

  May 2025: Clean Record was rejected by the Senate in a close vote.

  129 votes in the Chamber of Deputies and 37 in the Senate: the thresholds that the ruling party needs to approve the elimination of the PASO.

  2027: upcoming legislative elections that define the context of political urgency of the reform.

 

 

🔗 Sources and references

🔗  Infobae — Milei announced the sending of the electoral reform

🔗  Profile — "The is over": Milei announced the reform of the electoral system

🔗  La Capital — Milei announced the sending of an electoral reform to Congress

🔗  Diario Uno — Milei launched the electoral reform that plans to eliminate the PASO

🔗  Río Negro — Milei announced an electoral reform

 

 

🏷️ SEO Tags / Tags:

#ReformaElectoral #Argentina #Milei #EliminarPASO #FichaLimpia #LibertyAvanza #Congreso #FinanciamientoPartidos #EleccionesArgentina2027 #PASO #SistemaElectoral #Libertad #LeyFichaLimpia #PoliticaArgentina

 

 

 

An article prepared with an inverted pyramid journalistic style and advanced on-page SEO techniques.

© 2026 — All rights reserved · Reproduction citing source

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Diego Armando Maradona, circa 1986 — world football icon

📷 Diego Armando Maradona, circa 1986. Archive photo / Public domain.

More than five years after the death of Argentina's greatest football idol, the country's justice system made a second attempt to answer the question that divides a nation: did Diego Maradona die of natural causes, or was he abandoned by the very people paid to keep him alive?

7
Defendants charged
120
Witnesses expected
8–25
Years in prison if convicted
2nd
Trial (first was annulled)

⚖️A historic second trial begins

On Tuesday, April 14, 2026, the courts of San Isidro — in the greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area — opened their doors to a trial Argentina had been waiting for since the first proceedings collapsed in scandal nearly a year earlier. Seven healthcare professionals once again took their seats before the Oral Criminal Court No. 7 to answer for the death of Diego Armando Maradona, which occurred on November 25, 2020.

The courtroom was packed. Outside, some fifty people carrying Argentine flags and signs demanded "Justice for D10S" — a play on Maradona's iconic No. 10 jersey and "Dios," the Spanish word for God. Inside, daughters Dalma, Gianinna, and Jana Maradona, together with former partner Verónica Ojeda, watched from the front row as proceedings began in what promises to be the final act of a legal saga without precedent in football history.

"Diego Maradona began to die 12 hours before his actual death. Anyone who had thought to transfer him to a clinic in a car or ambulance during his final week would have saved his life."

— Patricio Ferrari, lead prosecutor

👥The seven defendants: who they are

All seven face charges of homicide with eventual intent (homicidio simple con dolo eventual) — the legal concept that applies when someone pursues a course of action knowing it could result in another person's death. All have declared themselves innocent and remain free pending the verdict.

Leopoldo Luque
🧠 Neurosurgeon · Personal physician
Agustina Cosachov
🩺 Treating psychiatrist
Carlos Díaz
🧠 Psychologist · Addiction treatment
Ricardo Omar Almirón
💉 Nurse
Mariano Perroni
👨‍⚕️ Nursing coordinator
Nancy Edith Forlini
📋 Medical coordinator (insurance)
Pedro Di Spagna
🩺 General practitioner
ℹ️

Eighth defendant: Nurse Dahiana Madrid requested a jury trial and will be tried in a separate proceeding whose date has not yet been set.

📋The prosecution: "a diabolical environment"

Lead prosecutor Patricio Ferrari pulled no punches in his opening statement. He described the medical team as "a bunch of amateurs" who committed "all kinds of omissions" and created what he called "cruel" conditions for their patient. According to the prosecution, Maradona was in agony for at least 12 hours with no one making the decision to transfer him to a hospital.

Plaintiff attorney Fernando Burlando, representing daughters Dalma and Gianinna, went further still: "Diego Armando Maradona was murdered." Burlando argued that during Maradona's home convalescence at the San Andrés gated community in Tigre, the icon was "surrounded by strangers" and that between November 11 and 25, 2020, "no one ever listened to Maradona's heart." Attorney Pablo Jurado, representing Maradona's sisters, called it "the chronicle of a death foretold."

Stadium named after Diego Armando Maradona in La Plata, Argentina

📷 The stadium in La Plata, renamed in honour of the football legend. Archive image.

🛡️The defence: "he died of a heart attack"

Defence lawyers categorically rejected the charges. Francisco Oneto, defending neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, announced that the trial would prove Maradona died of a heart attack stemming from his pre-existing medical conditions, and not from medical negligence.

Vadim Mischanchuk, lawyer for psychiatrist Cosachov, pointed to Maradona himself: "Diego had a determining role in decisions about his own health." He stressed that there was no "criminal plan" to cause his death. Roberto Rallín, another of Luque's attorneys, went as far as claiming that if Maradona were alive today, he "would ask that they not be convicted."

"If there is one thing that has been definitively ruled out, it is a deliberate criminal plan to kill Maradona."

— Vadim Mischanchuk, defence attorney for Agustina Cosachov

📰Why a second trial? The documentary scandal explained

To understand why this is a second trial, one must go back to May 2025. The first proceedings, which had accumulated more than 20 hearings and 44 witness testimonies over nearly three months, were declared null and void following an unprecedented scandal.

Judge Julieta Makintach, one of the three magistrates presiding over the case, was found to have taken part in an unauthorized documentary about the trial, tentatively titled "Divine Justice" (Justicia Divina). Footage showed the judge walking through courthouse corridors with electronic music playing in the background, before being interviewed at her desk — all filmed using cameras that had been secretly smuggled into the hearings.

The scandal led to Makintach's removal from office following impeachment proceedings in November 2025. Everything that had been done in the first trial was annulled. Zero. Back to square one. Argentina had to start again.

⚠️

Institutional impact: The annulment invalidated 20 hearings and 44 testimonies, including emotional statements from Maradona's children. Defence lawyers argue their clients are being "prosecuted twice for the same cause."

🕐Timeline of the case

  • November 2020
    Diego Maradona dies
    On November 25, Maradona dies of cardiac arrest and acute pulmonary oedema at the San Andrés gated community in Tigre, two weeks after brain surgery for a subdural hematoma.
  • 🔍
    2020–2023
    Criminal investigation
    Authorities investigate the circumstances of Maradona's death. A medical review board concludes he began dying at least 12 hours before his heart stopped.
  • ⚖️
    2024 – May 2025
    First oral trial
    Trial begins with 7 defendants. Over 20 hearings and 44 testimonies are heard, including those of Maradona's daughters.
  • 💥
    May – November 2025
    Scandal and annulment
    Judge Makintach is found to have participated in the "Divine Justice" documentary. The trial is annulled. Makintach is removed from the bench in November.
  • 🔄
    March – April 2026
    Second oral trial
    The process restarts from scratch under a new three-judge panel: Gaig, Ortolani and Rolón. The first hearing takes place on April 14, 2026.
  • 🏛️
    June – July 2026 (estimated)
    Verdict expected
    The tribunal aims to deliver its verdict before the mid-year judicial recess, potentially as early as June 2026.

👨‍⚖️The new judges: under the microscope

The three magistrates now presiding are Alberto Gaig, Alberto Ortolani, and Pablo Rolón, members of the Oral Criminal Court No. 7 of San Isidro. Luque himself had reportedly preferred a jury trial — a request that was denied — though his attorney expressed confidence in the new panel's impartiality.

Hearings are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the courthouse on Ituzaingó Street 340 in San Isidro. The witness list has been trimmed to roughly 90–120 names — down from a proposed 170 — and includes medical experts, family members, police officers, and people from Maradona's inner circle.

💔The family: "We want Diego to rest in peace"

Verónica Ojeda, mother of Dieguito Fernando — Maradona's 13-year-old youngest son — told reporters outside the courthouse: "That's what we all need: justice for Diego. We want to live in peace and for Diego to rest in peace." Her partner and family lawyer, Mario Baudry, was more direct: "I hope they are found guilty. And I hope the judges are severe with Luque, Cosachov and Díaz."

Baudry also pointed to the emotional weight of having to relive the ordeal: "For the victims, going through this again is hard, especially while also having to look after a 13-year-old boy." Daughters Dalma, Gianinna, and Jana attended the first hearing and will be called to testify again.

"We want to live in peace and for Diego to rest in peace."

— Verónica Ojeda, Maradona's former partner and mother of Dieguito Fernando

🔬The medical facts of the case

Maradona died of cardiac arrest and acute pulmonary oedema, against a clinical backdrop that included chronic kidney disease, liver cirrhosis, respiratory failure, and long-standing addictions to cocaine and alcohol. He had undergone surgery on November 3, 2020 at the Clínica Olivos for a subdural hematoma — a blood clot pressing on the brain. He was discharged on November 11 and transferred to a house in the San Andrés gated community in Tigre to recover under home medical supervision.

The medical review board convened by the courts determined that Maradona had begun dying at least 12 hours before he was found unresponsive, and that he displayed unmistakable signs of prolonged agony. Prosecutors argue that a timely transfer to a hospital could have saved his life.

Regarding the conditions of the home convalescence, the prosecution stated there was "no medical equipment, not even a bandage" and described the setup as "deficient, marked by omissions." The defence counters that the treatment plan was "agreed upon and appropriate" to Maradona's condition, and that the footballer himself made decisions about his care.


🌐A case that transcends borders

The trial over Maradona's death is not merely a criminal proceeding: it is a mirror through which Argentina examines its healthcare system, its judiciary, and its relationship with its own legends. The football world watches from outside. AFP, Reuters, CNN, Al Jazeera and dozens of international outlets covered the opening of the second trial in real time.

Whatever verdict is ultimately reached will have implications far beyond prison sentences. It will set a precedent on medical accountability in Argentina and define how far negligence can go before it becomes a crime.

The Number 10 spent his whole life asking the world to remember him. Now he waits, from somewhere beyond, for justice to speak its final word.

Digital Press AR · Special Judicial Coverage · San Isidro, Buenos Aires

Published April 20, 2026 · Updated with the latest available information.

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