Judge in Maradona negligence case resigns amid scandal

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Argentine judge embroiled in the scandal that led to the mistrial in the case of seven health professionals accused of negligence in Diego Maradona's death resigned Tuesday after a grand jury announced it would continue a process to consider her removal.

Julieta Makintach, who withdrew from the case because of a documentary in which she appears as one of its lead characters, resigned as a judge in a Buenos Aires provincial court.

“I present my resignation with serenity, without renouncing the right to exercise my defense in the appropriate arenas,” Makintach wrote in a letter sent to the district authorities.

The judge is on leave and will have to wait for the Buenos Aires authorities to accept her resignation.

Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020 while in home hospitalization on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain. He was 60.

Seven healthcare professionals were brought to trial for allegedly failing to provide adequate care.

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