MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Prosecutor's Office requests 12 years in prison for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

“I am not before a court of the Constitution, but before a media-judicial firing squad,” CFK wrote after the request for conviction was made public.

Argentine prosecutors on Monday requested a 12-year prison sentence and perpetual political disqualification for Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for alleged corruption in the bidding of works when she was president (2007-2015), an accusation that her supporters consider a persecution.

Fernández, charged with the crimes of aggravated illicit association and aggravated fraudulent administration, has political immunity due to her positions as vice president and president of the Senate. It is estimated that the verdict will be decided by the end of the year.

Minutes after the request for conviction was made public by the prosecutor Diego Luciani, the Argentine presidency issued a statement of repudiation.

Read also: Argentine President closes ranks with CFK over Prosecution's request

“The national government condemns the judicial and media persecution against Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner which was expressed today, once again, in the final plea and request for sentence in the so-called Causa Vialidad” (Road Cause), the text stated.

“None of the acts attributed to the former president have been proven and all the accusation against her refers only to the function she performed during that period, which unfortunately degrades the most elementary principles of modern criminal law,” it added.

Fernández is accused along with 12 other people for allegedly having directed the awarding of public works tenders in the province of Santa Cruz (south), her political cradle, to favor businessman Lázaro Báez, against whom the prosecutors also requested 12 years in prison and the seizure of his assets.

“Before a media-judicial firing squad”

The former president expressed herself on her Twitter account on Monday night to denounce that there is a plot to overthrow her right of defense. “I am not before a court of the Constitution, but before a media-judicial firing squad,” she wrote.

Si algo faltaba para confirmar que no estoy ante un tribunal de la Constitución, sino ante un pelotón de fusilamiento mediático-judicial, es impedirme el ejercicio del derecho de defensa ante cuestiones…

— Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) August 22, 2022

In total, the prosecution requested the forfeiture of 1 billion dollars, an amount considered equivalent to the alleged fraud and which, if ratified by the judges, will have to be paid jointly and proportionally among the 13 defendants.

The sentencing requests ranged from two to 12 years of imprisonment. The maximum sentence for these crimes is 16 years.

This was the ninth and last plea hearing for the prosecution, held remotely.

In the evening, Fernández' apartment in Buenos Aires was the epicenter of antagonistic demonstrations separated by a police cordon: while some celebrated the conviction with Argentine flags and pots and pans, others chanted in support of the vice-president.

According to prosecutor Sergio Mola in this case ”there were systematic irregularities in 51 tenders over 12 years. The evidentiary picture shows conclusively the illicit maneuvers. It is not credible that Cristina Fernández (de Kirchner) was not aware of anything in the solitude of her office,“ he stated in his closing argument.

The case also covers the previous government period from 2003-2007, when her husband Néstor Kirchner, who died in 2010, was president.

A “persecution”

Fernández, 69, a lawyer by profession, requested an extension of her deposition for Tuesday, arguing that ”in open violation of the principle of defense at trial, (prosecutors) mounted in their indictment issues that had never been raised“ in the process, she wrote on Twitter.

But that possibility was denied by the court, which considered that his lawyers will be able to expand on the defense arguments, starting on September 5.

After the denial, Fernández announced on Twitter that on Tuesday she will make her defense public through the networks.

”If anything was missing to confirm that I am not before a court of the Constitution, but before a media-judicial firing squad, it is to prevent me the right of defense,” she tweeted.

Previously, Fernández had requested the recusal of judges Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu and Jorge Gorini, as well as of prosecutor Luciani, but that request was dismissed.

For a sentence to be enforced, it must be ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice. Therefore, even if convicted, Fernández would remain free and could even be a candidate in the presidential and legislative elections of 2023.

In the midst of the political polarization and in view of next year's electoral process, several groups of the center-left Peronism, close to the Vice-President, denounce a persecution and an attempt of proscription and both parliamentarians and social and cultural leaders published statements in support of Fernández.

In the last hours, political leaders made a call for the mobilization of the militancy, but without calling for a specific call.

The vice-president has been acquitted in several cases for alleged crimes during her two presidential terms, but still faces five trials.

 

Based on AFP