On Tuesday, December 6, Cristina Kirchner, vice-president of Argentina, was sentenced in a trial in which she was accused of fraudulent administration of public funds and illicit association. The leader of Kirchner's Peronism was sentenced to 6 years in prison and life disqualification from holding public office.
In the so-called Vialidad case, initiated in 2019, irregularities in more than five dozens of public works signed by businessman Lázaro Báez in the province of Santa Cruz during the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Kirchner were judged.
🇦🇷 | ¡HISTÓRICO!
Cristina Kirchner acaba de ser condenada a 6 años de prisión e inhabilitación perpetua para ejercer cargos públicos por defraudación al Estado. pic.twitter.com/o3Tuhrp4Ef
— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) December 6, 2022
The process was suspended for six months due to the health emergency triggered by the covd-19 pandemic, but a conclusion was finally reached. Judges Jorge Gorini, Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu and Andrés Basso agreed that Kirchner should be convicted of fraudulent administration. But when it came to discussing the crime of illicit association, Basso was the only one who considered that the former president should be sentenced.
"We are certain that, through the processing of fifty-one public bidding processes for the construction of road works on national and provincial routes in the province of Santa Cruz, between the years 2003 and 2015, an extraordinary fraudulent maneuver took place that harmed the pecuniary interests of the national public administration under the terms and conditions established by criminal law," the Federal Oral Tribunal 2 expressed in a statement in which they explained their verdict.
It should be noted that the prosecution had requested a 12-year prison sentence for the defendant, in addition to disqualification from holding public office. Therefore, the country's vice-president would only respond to half of the sentence requested. In addition, the conviction is still subject to appeal and her position in the Executive protects her from going to prison.
Cristina Kirchner was in the Senate office when she learned of the court's decision, and from there she made her first statements, in which she expressed her discontent.
