Six years in prison and the disqualification of Cristina Fernández in Argentina are ratified; can still challenge
▲ The former president of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner greets supporters from the balcony of the Instituto Patria, yesterday in Buenos Aires, after a court confirmed her conviction for corruption.Photo Afp
Stella Calloni
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, November 14, 2024, p. 22
Buenos Aires. As warned by former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the National Court of Cassation yesterday confirmed the sentence of six years in prison and perpetual disqualification from holding public office against the Peronist for the Highway case, regarding the purchase of a public work in the southern province of Santa Cruz.
The sentence and its ratification were given without any evidence, because it was condemned based on false news published in the mass media of power, which is a true legal scandal, as has happened with other rulers in our region, including Brazil, with Lula da Silva.
More than 250 presidents, former presidents and political leaders immediately expressed their solidarity with Fernández de Kirchner, through a letter in which they repudiated the ruling of judges Mariano Borinsky, Gustavo Hornos and Diego Barroetaveña, all of the so-called judicial partyby denouncing that it is a practice of lawfare to outlaw it and install hate speech.
Supported, among others, by presidents Xiomara Castro, of Honduras; Luis Arce, from Bolivia, and former leaders Rafael Correa from Ecuador and Ernesto Samper from Colombia, the signatories also rejected the political, media and judicial persecution to which she is being subjected.
They pointed out that There is no doubt that the case is part of a systematic plan of persecution, articulated by political, media and judicial sectors.highlighting that the case was plagued by procedural and legal irregularities that seriously affected the constitutional guarantees of the former president, especially her right to defense in court.
They argued that the most dramatic consequence of this political persecution was promoted from the hegemonic media, in the attempted assassination of September 1, 2022.
The ruling is not final because there is an appeal, as a last resort, for the intervention of the Supreme Court of Justice, whose judges also belong to the judicial party.
The former president was not expected to go to prison now and even next year she may be a candidate in the legislative elections of 2025, and nor can perpetual disqualification from holding public office be imposed on her, because it only becomes effective when the sentences become final. .
Likewise, he could not be convicted of the charge of illicit association, in which he was judged to be boss of the same, along with a list of eight former officials, and a businessman from the province of Santa Cruz, who were also sentenced this day.
This case had been closed due to a complete lack of evidence and was opened under the government of former president Mauricio Macri.
The time for the court to act is unlimited, even if it ratifies this sentence, the file must be returned to the federal oral court 2 of the Comodoro PY courts.
The Supreme Court is not in its best moment and in addition to having demonstrated impartiality in recent years, it cannot be forgotten that former President Macri, in January 2016, less than a month after assuming power, appointed two judges by decree : Carlos Rosenkrantz and Horacio Rosatti, which was quickly denounced as illegal and passed through the Senate, where it managed to prevail narrowly over the opposition.
Today, President Javier Milei commented that he does not rule out appointing by decree Ariel Lijo and Manuel García Mansilla to join the Supreme Court, which will be left with only three judges due to the retirement of one of them.
Both judges are rejected by the opposition, not only from Unión por la Patria (Peronist), but by other sectors, and numerous investigations have appeared that denounce the lack of merit to assume these positions.
While Milei celebrated the conviction of the former president, whom he referred to as guilty of acts of corruptionboasted on social media about the influence his government has on justice.
everything comeshe maintained in a message, and added: Today we can affirm, without a doubt, that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is guilty of acts of corruption. End.
Meanwhile, Cristina remained at the Instituto Patria party headquarters, where a number of militants attended and applauded her.
Afterwards, she met in the suburban neighborhood of Moreno with 400 supporters, to whom she said: When you are a woman they make everything 20 times more difficult for you. Not only do they punish me for everything I did, but also because I am a woman and they don’t believe I am right..