Argentine protester Maldonado died of drowning, hypothermia - judge

A man lights candles next to a portrait of Santiago Maldonado in Buenos Aires, Argentina October 20, 2017. Picture taken October 20, 2017. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An activist whose disappearance in southern Argentina in August captured the country's attention in the months before mid-term elections died of drowning and hypothermia, the judge investigating the case said on Friday.

Santiago Maldonado had been missing from Aug. 1. He had attended an indigenous land rights protest in Patagonia that day. His body was found on October 17 in a nearby river.