The Supreme Court of Justice of Argentina confirmed a six-year prison sentence for former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, as well as a lifetime ban from holding public office for defrauding the state through contracts for public works.
After this decision, the former president has five business days to appear before a court. The defense can request that the sentence be served at her home, as she turned 72 in February.
The sentence is ratified eight days after Fernández de Kirchner announced her candidacy as a legislator in the elections of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, scheduled for September 7th.
The President of Argentina, Javier Milei, quickly reacted to the news through the social network X, where he assured that “justice” had been achieved. The president, who is in Israel on an international tour, stated that “the republic is working, and all the corrupt journalists complicit with lying politicians have been exposed in their operettas about the supposed pact of impunity.”
Why was the former president of Argentina sentenced?
The reason why Fernández was investigated was due to the awarding of 51 projects in the province of Santa Cruz, which benefited businessman Lázaro Báez during the governments of Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and Cristina Fernández (2007-2015).
The three judges of the High Court, Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti, voted unanimously and upheld the ruling of a lower court, stating that “the due process has been safeguarded and the appellant has obtained a judgment based on the law.”
Cristina Fernández is accused of the crime of fraudulent administration to the detriment of the public administration in 51 public works tenders. According to La Nación, Báez’s companies only completed 27 of the awarded projects in the province of Santa Cruz.
Cristina describes the judges as “unpresentable”
After the ruling, Fernández addressed a group of Peronist followers who had gathered at the headquarters of the Justicialist Party in Buenos Aires and accused the judiciary of imposing a “clampdown on popular vote,” labeling the judges as “puppets,” and reiterating that “the verdict was already written.”
“The truth is that this Argentina governed by Milei never ceases to surprise us, because on top of the salary clamp, they have added a clamp on popular vote. This triumvirate of unacceptable individuals (...) of puppets responds to natural commands far above them: the economic power concentrated in Argentina," said Fernández.
The former president called on the Justicialist militants to “stand by the people in need” and announced that she will stay to “face the consequences”. “We are not mafiosos,” she stated, while also considering that “being in prison is a certificate of dignity.”