Argentina’s Supreme Court Upholds Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s Prison Sentence – The New York Times
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Argentina’s top court upholds guilty verdict against Kirchner that bans her from office
Argentina’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a guilty verdict against Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. She was sentenced to six years in prison for defrauding the state and banned from public office. A lower court will decide whether to grant her house arrest due to her age. The verdict is a blow for the Peronist’s political grandee, though could galvanize the fragmented opposition movement ahead of midterm elections.
Item 1 of 6 Argentina’s former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner looks on outside the Partido Justicialista (Justicialista Party) national building, after Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld her guilty verdict for defrauding the state, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Tomas Cuesta
BUENOS AIRES, June 10 (Reuters) – Argentina’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a guilty verdict that sentenced powerful two-term former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to six years in prison for defrauding the state and banned her from public office.
Kirchner, 72, a polarizing figure and leftist who served as president from 2007 to 2015, was convicted by a trial court in 2022 for a fraud scheme that steered public road work projects in the Patagonia to a close ally while she was president.
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Kirchner, Argentina’s most starry politician in recent decades who has rockstar status among her supporters, has denied wrongdoing and claims she is a victim of political persecution.
The Supreme Court’s three judges left in effect an appellate court decision that had previously upheld the guilty verdict. A lower court will decide whether to grant Kirchner house arrest due to her age.
The verdict is a blow for Kirchner, the Peronist’s political grandee, though could galvanize the fragmented opposition movement ahead of midterm elections later this year where it will look to challenge libertarian President Javier Milei.
Kirchner had announced this month plans to run in legislative elections scheduled for September.
Reporting by Lucila Sigal and Leila Miller
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Argentina’s Supreme Court Upholds Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s Prison Sentence
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner sentenced to life in prison and barred from public office. The former president was found guilty of defrauding the state of millions of dollars. The ruling is likely to deepen political tensions in the country.
The ruling is likely to deepen political tensions in the country and comes after Mrs. Kirchner, who was the target of an assassination attempt three years ago, announced plans for a political comeback.
Supporters blocked key highways around the capital, Buenos Aires, ahead of the court decision against the left-leaning Mrs. Kirchner, who has clashed repeatedly with Argentina’s right-wing president, Javier Milei, while major labor unions had threatened national strikes.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Mrs. Kirchner, cementing a six-year sentence handed down by a lower court that had found she defrauded the state during her two terms as president, from 2007 to 2015.
Softer Policy on Drugs Is Debated in Argentina
Argentina is adopting an increasingly liberal attitude toward recreational drug use. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has moved to decriminalize the personal use of illicit substances. Argentina has one of the more tolerant drug-consumption policies in the world. “I don’t like it when people condemn someone who has an addiction as if he were a criminal,” she said.
“Here, Ecstasy is everywhere,” said Mateus Loiecomo, 19, referring to the drug that helped fuel the long night of dancing for a number of the revelers. He waved an arm at dozens of young people exiting with large sunglasses, their hair soaked with sweat. “But everybody should be allowed to take whatever drug they want,” he said. “It’s their life, right?”
Argentina is adopting an increasingly liberal attitude toward recreational drug use, with the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner moving to decriminalize the personal use of illicit substances and give the country one of the more tolerant drug-consumption policies in the world.
“I don’t like it when people condemn someone who has an addiction as if he were a criminal, as if he were a person who should be persecuted,” Mrs. Kirchner said in August. “The ones that should be persecuted are the ones who sell the substances, who give it away, who traffic in it.”
Argentine court upholds prison sentence for Cristina Fernández on corruption charges
A court in Buenos Aires has sentenced a former government official to six years in prison for fraud. The former government employee was found guilty of embezzling funds from a public works project. The court also found her guilty of two counts of making false statements to a public official and one count of making a false statement to the public. The judge also found the former public official guilty of a count of misconduct in public office, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years. The case was brought by a former public works official, who was working for the government at the time of the alleged fraud, and her husband, who is also a government official. The couple have since separated and the husband is now living in the U.S., where he works for a private company. The daughter of one of the victims of the fraud was also found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison.
The court sentenced Fernández in December 2022 for the crime of fraudulent management of public funds in the case known as “Vialidad,” involving the embezzlement of funds in road construction projects.
The case investigated irregularities in the granting of 51 roadworks contracts to companies linked to businessman Lázaro Báez during the government of the late Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and that of his wife and successor, Cristina Fernández, in the southern province of Santa Cruz.
On Wednesday, the Court of Appeals, formed by Mariano Borinsky, Gustavo Hornos, and Diego Barroetaveña, ruled to “sentence Cristina Elizabeth Fernández de Kirchner to six years in prison and perpetual disqualification from holding public office, considering her criminally responsible for the crime of fraudulent administration to the detriment of the public administration.”
This decision could hamper the former president’s potential candidacy in the 2025 general elections, although Fernández is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, a process that could take several months or even years.
The former president, who was not present in court, issued a lengthy statement on Nov. 12 in which she anticipated a verdict against her and denounced an attempt to “proscribe” her.
Fernández, who has repeatedly claimed to be the target of “lawfare” (judicial and political harassment), argued that the “Vialidad” case was a “show” and that its “real objective” was to permanently disqualify her from holding public office.
She criticized the judges’ lack of impartiality, highlighting their connections to former Argentine President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).
On Wednesday Fernández added that the Argentine court’s decision to uphold her sentence was a punishment for being a woman.
“When you’re a woman, everything is 20 times harder, and if they punish me for anything, it’s not just for everything I’ve done, but also because I’m a woman. They can’t stand to argue with a woman and not be able to prove themselves right,” she said during a meeting with women in the town of Moreno, in the province of Buenos Aires.
Meanwhile, Argentine President Javier Milei posted through his X account:
“Today (under this government), Argentine justice confirmed the sentence and perpetual disqualification from public office of the former president. Today we can say without any doubt that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is guilty of acts of corruption.”
In addition to confirming the sentence for the crime of fraudulent administration of public funds, the court rejected the prosecution’s request to also convict her for the crime of criminal association and upheld the sentences of other individuals involved.
The aforementioned include businessman Lázaro Báez (six years in prison), former Public Works Minister José López (six years), and the former Public Works Secretary, Nelson Periotti (six years), among others.
The judges upheld the acquittals of former Minister of Planning and Public Investment Julio De Vido, former Public Works Undersecretary Abel Fatala, former Santa Cruz Public Works official Héctor Garro, and Carlos Kirchner, cousin of the late former President Néstor Kirchner and former federal planning official. EFE
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