The Government considers the accusation of alleged corruption in the bidding for some works to be a “persecution” when she was president
The Argentine Prosecutor’s Office requested this Monday a sentence of 12 years in prison and perpetual political disqualification for Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for alleged corruption in the bidding for works when she was president (2007-2015), an accusation that her followers consider as a chase.
Kirchner, accused of the crimes of aggravated illicit association and aggravated fraudulent administration, has political immunity for her positions as vice president and president of the Senate. The verdict is expected to be decided by the end of the year.
Minutes after the request for conviction made by prosecutor Diego Luciani was known, the Argentine presidency issued a repudiation statement.
“The national government condemns the judicial and media persecution against Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner that was expressed today, once again, in the final argument and request for punishment in the so-called Road Cause,” the text said.
“None of the acts attributed to the former president has been proven and all the accusations against her refer only to the role she exercised during that period, which sadly degrades the most elementary principles of modern criminal law,” he added.
Kirchner is accused along with 12 other people for allegedly having guided the attribution of public works tenders in the province of Santa Cruz (south), her political cradle, to favor the businessman Lázaro Báez, against whom the prosecutors also requested 12 years in prison. and seizure of their assets.
In total, the Prosecutor’s Office requested the confiscation of 1,000 million dollars, a sum that it considered equivalent to the alleged fraud and that, if ratified by the judges, must be paid jointly and proportionally among the 13 defendants.
Sentence requests ranged from two to 12 years in prison. The sum of the maximum sentences for these crimes is 16 years.
This was the ninth and last hearing of allegations of the Prosecutor’s Office, held remotely.
Small groups of demonstrators gathered at the gates of the courts and also at Kirchner’s residence in Buenos Aires to celebrate with Argentine flags, whistles and saucepans the request for conviction.
According to prosecutor Sergio Mola in this case “there were systematic irregularities in 51 tenders over 12 years. The evidence table conclusively demonstrates the illicit maneuvers. It is not credible that Cristina Fernández (de Kirchner) did not find out anything in the solitude of her office, “said the prosecutor in his final argument.
The case also covers the period of the previous government from 2003-2007, when her husband Néstor Kirchner, who died in 2010, was president.
Kirchner, 69 years old and a lawyer by profession, requested an extension of her preliminary statement for Tuesday, arguing that “in open violation of the principle of defense at trial, (the prosecutors) mounted issues in her accusation that had never been raised.” , as he wrote on Twitter.
But that possibility was denied by the court, which considered that his lawyers could extend themselves during the next stage of defense arguments, starting on September 5.
Previously, Kirchner had requested the disqualification of judges Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu and Jorge Gorini, as well as prosecutor Luciani, but that request was dismissed.
For a sentence to be executed, it must be ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice. For this reason, even if she is convicted, Kirchner would remain free and could even be a candidate in the presidential and legislative elections of 2023.
In the midst of political polarization and before the electoral process next year, various center-left Peronist groups, close to the vice president, denounce persecution and both parliamentarians and social leaders and cultural leaders published statements of support for Kirchner.
In the last few hours, political leaders called for the mobilization of the militancy, but without specifying a call.
The vice president has been dismissed in several cases for alleged crimes that occurred in her two presidential terms, but she still faces five trials.