Cristina Kirchner is sentenced to 6 years for corruption

The Justice of Argentina condemned, this Tuesday (6), the vice-president Cristina Kirchner for corruption. The policy was found guilty of fraudulent administration in the action that became known as “Causa Vialidad”, which was at the most advanced stage among those involving it.

The sentence was fixed at 6 years, with life disqualification from holding public office. The decision can still be appealed.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office accused Cristina of having led an “extraordinary array of corruption”, setting up and administering, alongside 12 other defendants, a scheme to divert funds in the form of public works concessions in the province of Santa Cruz to the company of a friend of the Kirchner family.

In August, the prosecution led by prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola had asked the vice president for 12 years in prison, that she be prevented from running for public office for the rest of her life and that she return 5.3 billion pesos to the public coffers (BRL 200 million).

Cristina denies irregularities during the period in which she held the Presidency —the accusation also refers to the mandate of her husband and predecessor, Néstor (1950-2010), who was also governor of Santa Cruz. She claims that she is a victim of “lawfare”, when the Judiciary pursues an investigated person for political reasons, and maintains that the conviction was written from the beginning of the process.

In an interview with Sheet published on Sunday (4), she compared her situation to that of Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who had the convictions given by Sergio Moro in Operation Lava Jato annulled for, among other technical reasons, the former judge’s partiality. In sessions to present her defense, more than once she accused the judiciary of persecution and said she was the victim of a “firing squad”.

This Tuesday’s conviction, however, does not mean that Cristina will be arrested soon. Due to the positions she holds —besides being deputy, she is leader of the Senate—, politics has a special jurisdiction, which can only be overthrown through an impeachment process in Parliament. Even so, this would only happen when all instances of appeal were exhausted, the Supreme Court being the last of them.

Her term ends in December 2023, the same year she turns 70 – given her age, she could also apply for house arrest. The expectation, however, is that Cristina will be a candidate for some position in the election next year and, if she is elected, she will renew her immunity.

For the time being, its political force, the Peronist Frente de Todos alliance, has not defined who will run to succeed Alberto Fernández, but the current vice-president is one of the candidates, alongside the president himself, the Minister of the Interior, Wado de Pedro, and the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kiciloff. The primaries for that poll are expected to take place in August 2023.

Cristina and Fernández live a series of frictions throughout their mandate, in a constant search for power. On the eve of the verdict, the president gave a show of support to the vice president by promoting a siege to the Judiciary, ordering the opening of an investigation into an alleged trip that would have been secretly made by a group of businessmen, prosecutors and judges —including Julián Ercolini, who participated in the conduct of the process against the policy.

The Peronist administration is plunged into crisis, with inflation approaching the rate of 100% per year, which has a direct impact on the president’s low popularity ratings. Cristina, on the other hand, is still capable of mobilizing crowds — as seen in the days following an attempted attack against her in early August, after the request for her arrest in that same action.

Also this Tuesday, supporters united in defense of the vice president in front of Comodoro Py’s court. The trial, of a case that lasted three and a half years, had its last session held remotely. In the court were only the judges; Cristina and the other defendants, as well as the prosecutors, participated in the session via videoconference.

Lázaro Báez, a key figure in the alleged scheme, had already been convicted before, in another corruption case, and is serving a seven-year sentence. He is also accused in a third action, still in progress, which accuses Cristina of using the Kirchner family’s properties in Patagonia, including hotels, to launder money – the children of politics, Florencia and deputy Máximo, are also accused.

This is the second time that an Argentine vice president has been convicted. The previous one had been Cristina’s running mate, Amado Boudou, in 2018.