Twelve years in prison and a lifetime ban from elected office have been ordered by federal prosecutors in a corruption trial against Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Kirchner.
Kirchner, 69, is on trial on charges of forming a gang and embezzling public funds in her stronghold of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, from 2007 to 2015 when she was Argentina’s president.
The country’s vice president and president of the Senate since 2019, Kirchner currently enjoys immunity, which can only be lifted by the Supreme Court if it upholds any conviction. If that doesn’t happen, Kirchner will be able to stand as a candidate in the parliamentary and presidential elections to be held at the end of 2023, although she has not yet said whether she intends to do so.
After the prosecutor’s summons, in early September the defense will take the floor in this trial that began in 2019, but was suspended due to the covid-19 pandemic. The court’s decision is expected towards the end of 2022.
Last Monday night, two spontaneous gatherings – one of her opponents and one of her supporters – took place outside her home in Buenos Aires, resulting in incidents.
“Systematic irregularities”
Prosecutor Diego Luciani denounced “a real system of institutional corruption”, “probably the biggest corruption operation the country has ever known”.
Sergio Mola, another spokesman for the prosecution, referred to “systematic irregularities in 51 tenders over 12 years aimed at favoring businessman Lasaro Baez in order to undertake dozens of public projects in Patagonia, many of which were overpriced or not completed.”
The prosecution asked for sentences of two to 12 years against 12 other defendants, while estimating the state’s losses at 5.2 billion pesos (about 38 million euros). Among those accused is Baez, who last year was sentenced to 12 years in prison in a separate case for transferring funds to tax havens.
Kirchner, who denies the allegations, is filing a civil lawsuit.
In a post on Twitter last night she complained that she was facing “a media and judicial task force” rather than a “court”. She also added that she will respond to the charges through social networking sites today as she was not given the opportunity to testify about the new evidence presented by the prosecution.
Reactions
For his part, the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, in a statement, condemned the “judicial and media prosecution of the vice president” and estimated that “none of the actions attributed to her have been proven”.
The possibility of Kirchner’s conviction has in recent days prompted calls for mobilizations in her favor from politicians and Peronist movements.
Last week an iconic figure, the co-founder of the Mothers of May Square movement Ebe de Bonafini, had called for a “popular uprising” in order to “stop the vice president from going to jail”. At the same time, a petition signed by more than 500 mayors denounces the attempt to exclude Kirchner from the political life of Argentina.
Source: Capital
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