The judge who starred in a film when she was supposed to deliver justice for the death of Diego Armando Maradona was removed from her post on Tuesday. Unanimously, a jury at the Buenos Aires trial also ordered that Julieta Makintach, 49, be disqualified for life from judicial duties. The oral trial that was taking place for the alleged simple murder of the former Argentine footballer and coach, with doctors and nurses accused, has been canceled and a new trial will begin next March.
The 115-page ruling, issued after six hearings, is devastating for Makintach. The 11 members of the jury found her responsible for: “failure to fulfill the duties inherent to her office”; “carry out acts of manifest prejudice”; and “development of activities incompatible with the dignity and austerity that the judicial position imposes”.
divine justice would have been the title of the documentary that was secretly filmed with Makintach in the starring role. Last May, when the trial for Maradona’s death in 2020 had been underway for just over two months, images recorded in the courtroom were leaked, despite the ban on any recording outside of the court cameras. Subsequently, videos were released of the judge talking to the camera in his office, parading in the hallways or posing in the elevator. The scandal was immediate and all the parties involved in the trial, defense, complaints and prosecution, requested the suspension and then the annulment of the trial.
“The judge exceeded the limits of the exercise of the judicial function and did not fulfill the duties inherent to the judiciary by participating and collaborating irregularly in a commercial project closely linked to the trial for which she was responsible”, claims in the sentence the president of the trial jury, Hilda Kogan, who also presides over the Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires.
“In his defense, the judge failed to dispel even the appearance of bias or functional irregularity that the parties perceived during the trial,” adds Kogan. “Several clues revealed the judge’s behavior which – once his active collaboration in the creation of an audiovisual product whose narrative axis was his own performance in the trial was highlighted – allows us to conclude that his actions were aimed more at acquiring public notoriety than at fully fulfilling the function of administering justice.” The sentence also holds Makintach responsible for the irregular use of the resources of the Judiciary.
Without the presence of the ousted judge, the sentence was read on Tuesday in the courts of the city of La Plata. In the room, the only relatives of Maradona present were his youngest son, Diego Fernando, and his mother, Verónica Ojeda. “The court acted as it should,” celebrated Mario Baudry, lawyer and current partner of Ojeda, after hearing the sentence. “Now the criminal justice system has a free hand to continue investigating because she (Makintach) has no jurisdiction,” he added.
In addition to dismissal and banishment from judicial office, Makintach will face criminal prosecution for his actions. He will also lose his right to a privileged pension as a member of the Judiciary.
One of the lawyers involved in the case, Rodolfo Baqué, presented a request for impeachment for the judges who, together with Makintach, made up the court in the Maradona case: Verónica Di Tommaso and Maximiliano Savarino. Both, he assures, “knew of the existence of unauthorized people inside the debate hall with cameras recording” and “did not report this irregularity”.
