Argentina’s top court upholds Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s corruption conviction
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Argentina’s top court upholds Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s corruption conviction
Argentina’s Supreme Court upholds the conviction of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. She was found guilty of misappropriating public funds. Her supporters say the conviction is an attempt to keep her out of politics. She is expected to serve her sentence under house arrest, which is legal in Argentina. The judge said the sentence was necessary to protect the country’s democratic system from further damage. The court also ruled that she cannot run for re-election in 2015.
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BOGOTA, Colombia — One of Argentina’s most powerful—and polarizing—political figures is heading to prison. Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has been sentenced to 6 years for corruption and permanently banned from holding public office.
Kirchner, 72, who led Argentina for two terms from 2007 to 2015, was found guilty in 2022 of steering dozens of public works contracts during her presidency to a construction company owned by a close friend. The case, one of the most high-profile corruption trials in the country’s recent history, has sharply divided Argentines.
Kirchner and her lawyers appealed the conviction, as her supporters launched large protests—blocking roads and gathering outside the Supreme Court in Buenos Aires. But on Tuesday, the Justices upheld both the sentence and the lifetime political ban.
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In a resolution provided to the Associated Press the judges said the sentence “does nothing more than to protect our republican and democratic system.”
Speaking outside the courtroom, Kirchner denounced the ruling as politically motivated, accusing the judges of “restricting the popular vote”. She had been planning a political comeback by running for local office—an elected position, that if she’d had won, would have granted the Peronist politician legal immunity.
Even after leaving the presidency, Kirchner remained a dominant force in Argentine politics, serving as vice president from 2019 to 2023.
The leftist politician has been a fierce critic of President Javier Milei’s administration and retains a loyal base that sees her conviction as an attempt to silence her. Hailed by her supporters as a champion of the poor, she was also blamed by critics for overseeing the country’s unravelling economic troubles, including soaring inflation.
President Milei took to social media to applaud the verdict, without mentioning the former president by name, writing in a post on X, “Justice. Period.”
Because of her age, Kirchner is likely to serve her sentence under house arrest, as allowed under Argentine law for defendants over 70.
Argentina’s top court upholds Fernandez de Kirchner’s prison sentence
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, 72, was found guilty of corruption in 2012. She was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from politics. But the Supreme Court rejected her appeal on Tuesday. The ruling makes her subject to arrest and bars her from running for office. Her supporters block the streets of Buenos Aires in protest at the ruling. The former president has five days to turn herself in to authorities. Her lawyer has requested she be able to serve her sentence under house arrest due to her age. She claimed the conviction was politically motivated and appealed to the court. But judges rejected the appeal, saying her sentence did ‘nothing more than … protect our republican and democratic system’
Argentina’s Supreme Court has upheld a six-year prison sentence on corruption charges for former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
The ruling on Tuesday, which permanently bars the divisive 72-year-old from public office and makes her subject to arrest, prompted crowds of her supporters to block the streets of Buenos Aires in protest.
The left-wing former president denounced the ruling, claiming the court’s judges were acting in the service of the economically powerful.
“They’re three puppets answering to those ruling far above them,” she told supporters outside her party’s headquarters in Buenos Aires, in an apparent reference to the government of her rival, President Javier Milei.
“It’s the concentrated economic power of Argentina’s government.”
The ruling was welcomed by Milei, a libertarian fiercely opposed to Fernandez de Kirchner’s brand of high-spending politics, which critics blamed for years of economic volatility and soaring inflation.
“Justice. End,” he wrote on X.
‘Abundance of evidence’
Fernandez de Kirchner, who succeeded her husband Nestor Kirchner as president in 2007 and remained in power until 2015, had been found guilty by a federal court in 2022 of having directed irregular state public works contracts to a friend during her and her husband’s years in power.
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She claimed the conviction was politically motivated and appealed to the Supreme Court.
But the judges rejected Fernandez de Kirchner’s appeal, writing in a resolution that her sentence did “nothing more than … protect our republican and democratic system”, The Associated Press news agency reported.
“The sentences handed down by the previous courts were based on the abundance of evidence produced,” the judges wrote, according to the AFP news agency.
The ruling makes her conviction and appeal definitive, and likely draws a line under her lengthy political career, just days after she launched her campaign for the Buenos Aires legislative elections in September.
The former president has five days to turn herself in to authorities, although her lawyer has requested she be able to serve her sentence under house arrest due to her age, the AP reported.
The threat of arrest mobilised the former president’s supporters around her. Daniel Dragoni, a councillor from Buenos Aires, told AFP he was “destroyed” by the ruling but promised that her left-wing political movement would “return, as always”.
But historian Sergio Berensztein told AFP he believed the calls for her release would be short-lived and have limited effect.
“She is not the Cristina of 2019,” he said.
Argentina’s former president Cristina Kirchner is sentenced to prison
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, 72, was formally charged with corruption Tuesday. She was given five days to present herself before the court to be arrested. She ruled Argentina from 2007 to 2015 and later served as vice president until the 2023 election of libertarian Javier Milei. The court ordered that “special security measures’ be taken, given an assassination attempt against her in 2022. She is the head of the leftist Justicialist party, the principal opposition to the right-wing Milei government, and accused the government of persecuting the opposition. The ruling delivers a stunning blow to the woman who has loomed large over Argentine society for two decades.
The ruling delivers a stunning blow to the woman who has personified the country’s powerful Peronista movement and loomed large over Argentine society for two decades. She ruled Argentina from 2007 to 2015, following her husband, Nestor Kirchner, and later served as vice president until the 2023 election of libertarian Javier Milei.
Kirchner, who is the head of the leftist Justicialist party, the principal opposition to the right-wing Milei government, rejected the accusations against her and accused the government of persecuting the opposition.
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“Isn’t it paradoxical that they enjoy absolute freedom to continue doing the same things, causing the same pain, the same suffering to the Argentine people,” she said of the political right. “They are free and I am a prisoner.”
Kirchner also questioned the timing of the ruling, which came as she planned to pursue a political comeback in upcoming elections in the Buenos Aires provincial legislature.
Many Argentines, including the Milei government, accuse Kirchner of stealing from the country and sending its economy into one economic crisis after another. Milei, a radical libertarian friendly with President Donald Trump, rode a wave of anger at the Peronist political establishment to win the 2023 election and shift the country dramatically to the right.
Still, Kirchner continues to galvanize a movement of loyal fans. She received the news Tuesday surrounded by supporters that gathered in the streets of Buenos Aires and blocked some highways.
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Milei wrote on X after the ruling was made public: “Justice. The end.”
Kirchner was accused of corruption after investigations determined that she and her late husband created a construction company and signed contracts in the Santa Cruz province. During 12 years their company received almost 80 percent of the public contracts in the province.
She was convicted in 2022, when a panel of three judges found her guilty of fraud for directing millions of dollars in taxpayer money to a family friend. She denied any wrongdoing. Several officials from her administration have been convicted in separate corruption cases.
Kirchner continues to face multiple trials on corruption charges. In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio barred Kirchner from entering the United States over her “involvement in significant corruption” during her time in office.
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It is unclear whether the former president will serve prison time, in part because of her age. Argentine law allows people over 70 to serve house arrest. Her lawyer told local news media Tuesday that they will ask for her to serve her sentence at home. The court ordered that “special security measures” be taken, given an assassination attempt against Kirchner in 2022.
Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner Barred from Office After Supreme Court Upholds Fraud Conviction
A court in Argentina has upheld a conviction against a former vice president. The former president was found guilty of embezzling millions of dollars from a public works project. She was sentenced to six years in prison. The court will now decide whether she can run for re-election in 2015. The case has been adjourned until after the next election in November 2015, when the court will make a decision on whether to reinstate her.
Kirchner’s appeal was rejected by the court’s three judges, leaving intact a ruling that not only sentenced her to prison but also barred her from holding public office. A lower court will decide whether her sentence will be served under house arrest due to her age. Kirchner maintains her innocence and claims political persecution.
The verdict disrupts her planned run in the Buenos Aires provincial elections but may energize her Peronist base, fractured since their 2023 defeat to libertarian President Javier Milei. Following the ruling, Kirchner criticized the judiciary, calling the justices a “triumvirate of unpresentables” during a rally outside her party headquarters.
Prosecutors alleged Kirchner and her late husband, Néstor Kirchner, channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to Báez’s companies—many of which abandoned their roadwork projects. Báez and others received prison sentences.
Despite waning popularity amid economic turmoil during her vice presidency under Alberto Fernández, Kirchner still commands strong support from working-class voters. Analysts note that while she can no longer run for office, her political influence persists.
President Milei, known for his harsh austerity and anti-Kirchner rhetoric, hailed the ruling on X, writing simply, “Justice.”
Kirchner faces additional corruption trials, including one for an alleged bribery ring set to begin in November, echoing Argentina’s history of high-profile political convictions.
Argentina’s top court upholds Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s corruption conviction
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner sentenced to 6 years in prison for corruption. She was found guilty of steering public works contracts to a close friend. The case, one of the most high-profile corruption trials in the country’s recent history, has sharply divided Argentines. The leftist politician has been a fierce critic of President Javier Milei’s administration and retains a loyal base that sees her conviction as an attempt to silence her.
Kirchner, 72, who led Argentina for two terms from 2007 to 2015, was found guilty in 2022 of steering dozens of public works contracts during her presidency to a construction company owned by a close friend. The case, one of the most high-profile corruption trials in the country’s recent history, has sharply divided Argentines.
Kirchner and her lawyers appealed the conviction, as her supporters launched large protests—blocking roads and gathering outside the Supreme Court in Buenos Aires. But on Tuesday, the Justices upheld both the sentence and the lifetime political ban.
In a resolution provided to the Associated Press the judges said the sentence “does nothing more than to protect our republican and democratic system.”
Speaking outside the courtroom, Kirchner denounced the ruling as politically motivated, accusing the judges of “restricting the popular vote”. She had been planning a political comeback by running for local office—an elected position, that if she’d had won, would have granted the Peronist politician legal immunity.
Even after leaving the presidency, Kirchner remained a dominant force in Argentine politics, serving as vice president from 2019 to 2023.
The leftist politician has been a fierce critic of President Javier Milei’s administration and retains a loyal base that sees her conviction as an attempt to silence her. Hailed by her supporters as a champion of the poor, she was also blamed by critics for overseeing the country’s unravelling economic troubles, including soaring inflation.
President Milei took to social media to applaud the verdict, without mentioning the former president by name, writing in a post on X, “Justice. Period.”
Because of her age, Kirchner is likely to serve her sentence under house arrest, as allowed under Argentine law for defendants over 70.
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