Trial of Cristina Kirchner for corruption, a verdict of high political impact in Argentina

the justice of Argentina will announce this Tuesday if he acquits or sentences the vice president to prison Cristina Kirchner in a case for alleged corruption when she was president (2007-2015) and whose verdict will have a strong political impact.

“Obviously there will be a conviction,” he said. Kirchner on Monday in an interview with the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

LOOK: Cristina Kirchner says that justice is persecuting her as it has done with Lula

The sentence will be read in a hearing that will begin at 9:30 a.m. local time (15:30 GMT) that the defendants will follow by videoconference by order of the court, according to a judicial source.

Even if condemned Kirchner will not go to prison for having privileges. This is a first instance ruling that allows for a long course of appeals that can last several years before being final.

“The conviction has a strong political impact,” Analyst Rosendo Fraga told AFP, but “the possibility of her being arrested for this sentence is non-existent.”

In 2023 general elections will be held in Argentina for which Kirchner may run for any position.

Condemned “in advance”

Since the start of the trial, in 2019, The 69-year-old former president maintained that her sentence “is written in advance” by denouncing that it is “a political trial” that seeks to instruct all Peronism.

“The sentence was written on December 2, 2019, the first time I testified in this trial. For very simple reasons. First: all my constitutional guarantees were violated. Second: everything said is a lie.” he claimed.

Kirchner is accused, along with 12 other people, for the allegedly irregular awarding of public works contracts in the province of Santa Cruz (south) during her two terms as president.

The prosecution requested 12 years in prison for her when considering her “head of an illicit association” and also political disqualification from holding public office.

Kirchner He said that beyond a conviction, he will continue in politics. “I will never give up my opinion and say what I think needs to be done to go out and build a better country for our people,” she warned.

In his final words before the court, Kirchner accused the judges of having “invented and misrepresented” the facts.

The defense also questions the criminal figure of illicit association on which the prosecution built its accusation.

One possibility is that the court frames his sentence under the figure of fraud, for which the maximum penalty is reduced to 6 years in prison.

In both cases, the penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office is applicable.

Absolution?

“It is very difficult to substantiate a conviction. If there is law, and this is the rule of law, it has to acquit”said one of the vice president’s lawyers, Gregorio Dalbón, on Monday.

The lawyer stated that “there is no evidence to convict her, (but) if the trial is going to be political, of course there will be a conviction.”

The analyst Rosendo Fraga considered that whatever the verdict is, the impact will be strong. “Cristina’s strategy is going to be to deepen her theory of “lawfare”which consists of denouncing adverse rulings in corruption cases as a political maneuver to prevent his candidacy, making the analogy with what happened with Lula in Brazil four years ago,” he told AFP.

In any case, “it will seek demonstrations of support from the region’s progressive leaders, beginning with the Brazilian.”

Secondly that an eventual conviction is not accompanied by imprisonment “will be a disappointment for the anti-Kirchner sectors”, Fraga pointed out.

“It is probable that she, if she does not present herself as a candidate for the presidency, will do so for the Senate of the province of Buenos Aires, with which she would have jurisdiction until December 10, 2029″, pointed.

vigil and acts

Different Kirchner organizations declared themselves on alert before a possible condemnation without calling for a joint mobilization, although more radical sectors agitate for the possibility of a large mobilization.

The Association of State Workers (ATE) has already warned: “If they touch Cristina, we will stop the State. We are not going to allow a ‘Lula’ in our country”, said his general secretary, Daniel Catalano, days ago.

Some grassroots Kirchner organizations and piqueteros called for a vigil in front of the Buenos Aires courts. However, the vice president herself discouraged mobilizations to avoid opposition provocations, sources from the Frente de Todos said.

On September 1 Kirchner suffered an attempted murder when a man sneaked between followers who were waiting for her at the gates of her house to express their support for her in the face of the trial.

The attacker pulled the trigger of a pistol twice within inches of the vice president, but the weapon misfired. He is arrested along with his girlfriend and another person identified as the leader of the gang in a case in which Kirchner asks to investigate whether there were political instigators.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.