Argentine judge charges five people over death of former One Direction star Liam Payne

An Argentine judge has confirmed charges against five individuals in connection with the death of former One Direction member, Liam Payne. Two of them have been ordered into preventative detention for allegedly providing Payne with drugs.

A judicial official confirmed the judge's decision on Monday, stating that one of the two ordered into preventative detention was an employee at the hotel in Buenos Aires where Payne was staying. Payne died after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in October. The other individual was a waiter Payne had met at a restaurant.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that both face charges of providing drugs and will be required to appear before a judge. Additionally, the judge has charged three others with manslaughter, including a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina and two hotel managers. However, they have not been ordered into preventative detention.

Prosecutors initially filed charges against the three individuals in November, but did not disclose their names. Payne fell from the balcony of his room on the third floor of a hotel in the upscale Palermo neighborhood of the Argentine capital. The autopsy report indicated that he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding. Prosecutors also stated that Payne's toxicology report revealed "traces of alcohol, cocaine, and prescription antidepressants" in his system at the time of his death.

Payne's autopsy report showed that his injuries were not caused by self-harm or physical intervention by another person. The documents also noted that he did not have self-protective reflexes during the fall, suggesting he may have been unconscious at the time. Argentine prosecutors have also ruled out suicide as a cause of Payne's death. One Direction was one of the most successful boy bands of recent times, announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2016. Payne, along with his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson, embarked on solo careers.