Cristina Kirchner: corruption trial enters its final phase in Argentina

The trial against the Argentine vice president, Cristina Kirchner, accused of corruption along with twelve other people, begins this Monday in its final stretch, and it is estimated that the court will be able to issue a verdict before the end of the year.

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Initiated in May 2019, just days after Kirchner announced her candidacy in the formula with the current center-left president Alberto Fernández, this judicial process has developed throughout her entire period as vice president.

The court’s ruling will be known at a time when there is speculation about the candidacies for the presidential and parliamentary elections next year.

“Being a first instance trial, which is not the final one, its impact will be more media than electoral,” estimated political analyst Carlos Fara, alluding to those elections for which Kirchner, leader of the most leftist wing of Peronism, has not yet He has revealed his intentions.

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“The conviction of guilt that most of society has and the general idea that politicians are all more or less corrupt lessens its impact a bit,” he added.

final words

Protected by her privileges as vice president and president of the Senate, Kirchner cannot be arrested until there is a final sentence from the Supreme Court of Justice, something that can take several years.

In the stage that begins this Monday, prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola must answer requests for annulment from the defenses. A schedule will then be set for the defendants to say the final words at trial.

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Kirchner, 69, is accused of having favored the businessman Lázaro Báez in the award of public works tenders in the province of Santa Cruz when she was president, between 2007 and 2015.

The Prosecutor’s Office requested against her a sentence of 12 years in prison and perpetual political disqualification.

The former president considers this process as a political persecution and has denounced that justice, which she calls the ‘judicial party’, wants to see her “dead or imprisoned”.

Among the 12 remaining defendants are Julio de Vido, former Minister of Planning; José López, former Secretary of Public Works; and the businessman Lázaro Báez himself.

In the process, the court heard 114 witnesses in 117 hearings.

In parallel, a case is advancing for the failed attack on Kirchner on September 1, when upon arriving at his home in Buenos Aires a man pulled the trigger of a pistol very close to his head twice, without the weapon actually firing.

The attacker agreed to the vice president by slipping through dozens of supporters who waited for her every night to express their support, after the request for conviction from the Prosecutor’s Office.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.