(CNN Spanish) –– Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was sentenced to 6 years in prison in the “Roads” case. But, he will not go to jail.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Country Vice President. (Photo: Delam).
Fernández de Kirchner was found guilty of fraudulent administration and damage to public administration during his two presidency (2007-2011 and 2011-2015) by siphoning funds for his personal benefit or third parties. . The court sentenced him to 6 years in prison.
However, because of her role as vice president, Fernandez de Kirchner has immunity, which legally and civilly protects her in a criminal case, and she won’t go to jail.
The attorney general’s office accused the vice president of leading an illegal association that, along with other officials, steered multimillion-dollar roadwork contracts that were incomplete, overpriced and unnecessary, according to the complaint.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner denied the allegations during the trial and denounced it as political persecution. As stated earlier, this corruption charge – the only charge against the Vice President that reached the oral hearing stage – is baseless and amounts to harassment against him and the political program he represents.
A supporter of Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner holds up a poster in front of the Comodoro Pi courts in Buenos Aires on December 6, 2022. (Credit: Luis Ropaio/AFP/Getty Images)
Fernandez de Kirchner says he will not be a candidate
Following news of her conviction, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner issued public statements in which she vowed not to run for president next year. The conviction did not stop Fernandez de Kirchner from aspiring to the post.
“I am not going to subject the political power that gave me the honor of being President and Vice President twice during the election period to ‘reprimanded candidate’, ‘permanent disqualification’, ‘fraudulent administration of government’. (…) Well, I am not going to be a candidate,” said the deputy. Chairman. At that time, he insisted that “he is not going to be a candidate for anything” and “his name is not going to appear on any ballot.”
“Road” case
Prosecutor Diego Luciani, in charge of the “Violitat” case, August asked Fernandez was sentenced to 12 years in prison and perpetual disqualification from public office. The indictment specifically refers to 51 tenders in the province of Santa Cruz, where her late husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, was a native and where the two spent a good part of their professional and political careers before jumping onto the national scene.
Another key figure in the indictment is Lazaro Baez, a former associate of the Kirchner couple and prosecutors say was the main beneficiary of the fraud. In other words, he would have been favored by directing works, and then, in different ways, he would have benefited his partners financially.
Luciani, the lawyer who established the beginning of the alleged fraud in the government of Néstor Kirchner – confirms Lázaro Baez, “a friend of the then president of the nation overnight and a business partner of him and his wife” to divert the funds. .
Pease has already been sentenced to 12 years in prison for money laundering between 2003 and 2015, with a prison term set to expire in 2021, and his defense is on appeal before the Chamber of Cassation. His lawyer said the conviction was the result of “political and media harassment”. In an interview with CNN, Báez’s side denied the allegations, alleging that the evidence used to confirm the illegal contact belonged to another file and that the prosecution would prove its arguments were false during the charges.
