Argentina's top court upholds 6-year prison sentence for ex-President Fernández over corruption

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s highest tribunal upheld a six-year situation condemnation for erstwhile President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner successful a ruling Tuesday that permanently banned her from nationalist bureau implicit the corruption condemnation that recovered she had directed authorities contracts to a person portion she was the archetypal woman and president.

The explosive Supreme Court ruling near Fernández, Argentina’s charismatic yet profoundly divisive ex-leader, taxable to apprehension and sent her supporters pouring into the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, and blocking large highways successful protest.

The tribunal asked Argentina’s information ministry to acceptable up a detention halfway to clasp 72-year-old Fernández. Her defence lawyer Carlos Beraldi told C5N, a tv presumption successful Buenos Aires, that helium had requested Fernández beryllium allowed to service her condemnation successful location apprehension fixed her age.

The ruling bars Fernández from moving successful this fall’s Buenos Aires legislative elections conscionable days aft she launched her campaign.

Fernández — who dominated Argentine authorities for 2 decades and forged the country’s main left-wing populist question known arsenic Kirchnerism, aft her and her husband, erstwhile President Néstor Kirchner — rejects the charges arsenic politically motivated.

During Fernández’s 8 years successful bureau (2007–2015), Argentina expanded currency payments to the mediocre and pioneered large societal assistance programs. But her governments funded the unbridled authorities spending by printing money, bringing Argentina notoriety for monolithic fund deficits and sky-high inflation.

Critics blamed Argentina’s years of economical volatility connected Fernández’s policies, and outrage implicit successive economical crises and the country’s bloated bureaucracy helped vault extremist libertarian President Javier Milei to the presidency successful precocious 2023.

The ruling dealt a terrible stroke to Milei’s absorption during a important midterm predetermination year. He celebrated the ruling, penning connected societal media: “Justice. Period.”

Fernández was embroiled successful aggregate corruption scandals during her tenure. She was convicted successful 2022 successful this corruption case, which centered connected 51 nationalist contracts for nationalist works awarded to companies linked to Lázaro Báez, a convicted operation magnate and person of the statesmanlike couple, astatine prices 20% supra the modular complaint successful a strategy that outgo the authorities tens of millions of dollars.

The precocious tribunal rejected Fernández’s petition for the tribunal to reappraisal her situation condemnation successful March. In a solution obtained by The Associated Press, the tribunal said that the situation condemnation “does thing much than to support our enactment and antiauthoritarian system.”

The Kirchner governments carried retired “an bonzer fraudulent maneuver” that harmed the interests of the authorities and resulted successful the embezzlement of astir $70 cardinal astatine the existent speech rate, the solution said.

Supporters of Fernández and her governmental question blocked main roads into Buenos Aires and stormed the offices of Argentina’s 2 main cablegram networks that are wide considered captious of the ex-leader, Channel 13 and Todos Noticias, smashing televisions, vandalizing cars and shattering windows. There were nary injuries reported.

Fernández rejected the decision, calling the tribunal justices “puppets” of those wielding economical powerfulness successful the country.

“They’re 3 puppets answering to those ruling acold supra them,” she told supporters successful a rousing code extracurricular her party’s headquarters. “It’s not the opposition. It’s the concentrated economical powerfulness of Argentina’s government.”

Gregorio Dalbón, 1 of Fernández’s lawyers, vowed “to instrumentality this lawsuit to each planetary quality rights organizations.”

Fernández has questioned the impartiality of the judges. She claims her defence didn’t person entree to overmuch of the grounds and that it was gathered without respect to ineligible deadlines.

Fernández faces a bid of different upcoming trials connected corruption charges.