Argentina: Prosecutor seeks 12 years in prison and political disqualification for Vice President Cristina Fernandez

On Monday, the prosecutor demanded to sentence the Vice President of Argentina to 12 years in prison. Cristina Fernandezin an oral lawsuit that follows her over alleged irregularities in awarding community service when she was mandatory.

Prosecutor Diego Luciani also demanded that Fernandez, who led Argentina between 2007 and 2015, be barred from holding public office in perpetuity.

Cristina FernandezA 69-year-old man has been on trial since May 2019 on charges of illegal association and fraudulent management of public funds.

The process assesses alleged irregularities in the transfer of 51 public works to the firms of businessman Lázaro Báez during the administration of the late Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and Cristina Fernandez (2007-2015) in the southern province of Santa Cruz. .

Luciani also demanded various sentences for Lázaro Baez, former planning minister Julio De Vido and other former Kirchner officials.

When did the trial start?

The trial began on May 21, 2019 with over a hundred witnesses and had to be temporarily suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

vice president Christina Fernandez, At 69, she has been fired in multiple cases for alleged crimes in her two presidential terms (2007-2015), but she still has five trials to go.

Last October, a case was dismissed that accused the former president of covering up those responsible for the 1994 attack on the Jewish mutual aid society AMIA in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and injured 300.

Argentine government condemns ‘justice’

The Argentine government has condemned the “prosecution” of the country’s vice president, Cristina Fernandez, following a tax inquiry.

“The national government condemns the legal and media prosecution of Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, which was re-expressed today in the latest argument and demand for punishment in the so-called “road case,” the administration said in a statement. .

According to executive Alberto Fernández, “the prosecution supported and propagated by various media, the offensive characterization of the figure of an illegal association and the introduction of pre-trial detention as early punishment” are “aspects that are contrary to the dogmatics of the law of the criminal” in a state of law.

“None of the acts attributed to the former president have been proven, and all accusations against her relate only to the role that she performed during that period, which lamentably humiliates the most elementary principles of modern criminal law,” the statement said.

The government reaffirmed its “commitment to the constitutional principle of innocence and the full legitimacy of the democratic functioning of justice, the right to protection and equality before the law” and stated that it “will continue to fight for judicial reform that guarantees these values ​​for one and all.”

(EFE/AFP)