Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Kirchner was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison, parliamentary immunity and a life ban in a trial for fraud and corruption during her presidency, a sentence she attributed to a “judicial mafia”.
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The ex-head of state reiterated that she “would not stand for anything in the 2023 parliamentary elections, neither for senator nor for vice president nor for president”, and thus seemed to forgo future immunity. Even if several appellate instances should not make the judgment effective for years.
Cristina Kirchner, 69, was found guilty of “administrative fraud” at the expense of the state in this public procurement trial in her political stronghold Santa Cruz (south) during her two terms in office (2007 to 2015). .
Twelve years in prison and non-admission had been requested against them.
The centre-left former president, who remains a vital yet divisive figure in Argentine politics seven years after leaving the presidency, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers have pleaded for his release.
Throughout the trial since 2019, she has denounced a “political” process led by judges and, according to her, exploited by the right-wing opposition, particularly the “macriste” camp, in relation to her succession to the presidency (2015-2019). became. , the liberal Mauricio Macri.
Long appeals in sight
Her position as President of the Senate, equivalent to parliamentary immunity, saved her from jail. Immunity, which she apparently waived in the future by announcing that she would not seek a mandate in 2023, but would “go home”. “Let them put me in jail!” She started defiantly.
But a conviction — jail or ineligibility — would only take effect after many appeals, including possibly one to the Supreme Court, which political scientist Rosendo Fraga predicted to AFP this week could take six to seven years.
In August, the indictment – aged 12 – had sparked large demonstrations in support of Ms Kirchner in several cities in Argentina and under the windows of her home in Buenos Aires on several evenings, leading to clashes with police.
However, Tuesday’s verdict sparked only a modest mobilization. No strong direction had come from the vice president’s entourage.
A few hundred supporters – unionists, Peronist activists – quietly gathered near the courthouse in the afternoon, desperate for shade in over 35C, AFP noted. In the evening another modest assembly formed, quietly gathering around Parliament.
“Cristina’s message was that the organizations don’t move, but we came spontaneously to show that we will always support them. For what she did for us, our dignity as workers, for the children of poor neighborhoods,” Ariel Alvarez, 37, told AFP, denouncing a judgment that was “off topic, corrupt” and “made up by them , who have been in power for 30 years, since the dictatorship. They are equal.”
The hypothesis of strong mobilizations had raised fears of an attack of fever like that of August. Floods, tensions had indirectly created the context for the September 1st attack on Ms. Kirchner. The gunman – whose shot had not been fired – slipped into a chaotic crowd of supporters outside her home.
“The sentence is written”
Eight of the 12 co-defendants in the trial, including a contractor and former head of the Vialidad road construction organization, were sentenced to prison terms of between three and a half and six years. Four were released or received a prescription.
“The sentence is written. The idea was to sentence me,” Ms. Kirchner responded to the verdict in a video address from her Senate office. She denounced “a parallel state”, a “judicial mafia”.
“Today in Argentina an innocent person was convicted (…) when politics goes to court, justice goes out the window,” tweeted Argentine President Alberto Fernandez.
The Mexican head of state Andrés Manuel López Obrador (left) also expressed his solidarity with Ms. Kirchner, who he believes is “the victim of political revenge and an undemocratic baseness of conservatism”.
On Monday, she compared her fate to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s re-elected president, who was jailed for corruption in 2018-19 and whose convictions were eventually overturned.
A parallel until the return? Technically, it would have been possible not to run for anything in 2003 until his announcement on Tuesday. But his national political future has been strained since his presidency. And its Peronist camp, aware of the rejection it evokes today, beyond a hard core of 20-25% of believers.
She recently distilled signals that suggest she’s no longer portraying herself as an agent, but as a super influencer. Like in 2019 when she dubbed Alberto Fernandez. “Politics is not just about filling a position (…), being president, vice president, senator or congressman. It’s the power to convey ideas,” she said Monday.