Kirchner Calls the Court Sentencing Her a “Firing Squad”

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Argentina’s vice president faces 12 years in prison and political disqualification for alleged corruption while in office

Seen for sentencing. The trial of Argentina’s Vice President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, for alleged corruption during her two terms in office (2007-2015) held its final hearing on Tuesday. The prosecutor is demanding 12 years in prison and permanent political disqualification for Kirchner. The hearing will take place on 6 December in which the verdict of the magistrates will be announced. In any case, Kirchner will not go to prison, as she is protected by the privileges granted to her by her positions as vice president and president of the Senate. His final sentence will depend on what the Supreme Court ultimately decides.

Kirchner closed the trial on Tuesday with an intervention in which he denounced the togados. The former president, one of the most relevant Latin American political figures of recent decades, accused the court of being “a real firing squad.” “More than a ‘lawfare’ court, this court was a veritable firing squad that began with the incredible diatribe of prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola, who devoted themselves to annoying and insulting me,” he said in his speech, which he electronically and which lasted twenty minutes.

Kirchner, 69, is accused of fraudulently awarding public works during her two consecutive terms as president. In particular, he is charged with committing crimes of unauthorized association and fraudulent management of public funds. The alleged irregularities in the concession of 51 public works to companies of the businessman Lázaro Báez, a friend of the Kirchner family, during the governments of the late Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) in the southern province of Santa Cruz, the political cradle of Kirchnerism. In addition to Báez himself, there are twelve other defendants, including several charges from the Kirchner cabinets.

In his speech, Kirchner accused prosecutors of “fabricating and distorting” the facts and assured that “they had been shown to be false, that they had not even existed.” “They slandered, lied, insulted me and our government,” he stressed, estimating that the trial has “a disciplinary target of the political class,” especially against its “political space.”

As the hearing took place, dozens of protesters — both supporters and opponents of the vice president — gathered outside the courts and Senate, from which Kirchner appeared. His figure, as the main current referent of Peronism, arouses great controversy in Argentine society. When the prosecution announced its request for sentencing last August, several demonstrations of support for the vice president were held, with vigils held by hundreds of her followers at the door of her Buenos Aires home.

In the midst of these mobilizations, on September 1, a man approached Kirchner with a pistol that he fired a few inches from his face. However, the gun did not go off, so the vice president came out of the incident unscathed. The event shocked the country and much of the international community, which expressed solidarity with the former president after the attack. Three detainees have been charged with attempted murder: the attacker, Fernando Andrés Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old Brazilian; his girlfriend; and the alleged boss of the gang.

In this sense, Kirchner on Tuesday also criticized the court investigating these events, as he believes that the political ties of the detainees have not been sufficiently investigated.

Source: La Verdad

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