Former president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner delivers a speech to supporters, following the Supreme Court verdict against her in a case widely considered as lawfare. Photo: Screenshot/Telesur.
Argentina’s Supreme Court of Justice rejected the special appeal filed by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s defense and upheld the sentence against her in the “Road Infrastructure case,” handing down a six-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from holding public office.
The deliberations were led on Tuesday, June 10, by Horacio Rosatti, president of the Supreme Court, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti. According to information from the Supreme Court, Rosatti and Rosenkrantz had already cast their votes before Tuesday, so only Lorenzetti’s pronouncement remained pending in order to reach a decision.
For a ruling to be issued, the agreement of all three justices was required, given that with two vacancies on the five-member court, a minimum of three concurring votes is required.
The Supreme Court rejected the appeals and upheld the first-instance ruling, amid a momentous political context, with opposition parties and organizations, including the Peronist leader’s organization Justicialist Party, condemning the case as a lawfare.
Meanwhile, thousands of Argentinians from various sectors of the left gathered at the Justicialist Party headquarters in Buenos Aires to hear the former president’s first statements after the sentence was issued.
“The truth is that this Argentina governed by Milei never ceases to surprise us, because in addition to wage controls, they have added controls on the popular vote,” Fernández said, referring to her political proscription. “This triumvirate of puppets [the Supreme Court judges] answers to natural powers far above them: Argentina’s concentrated economic power … That power, a few days after the attempt to assassinate me, came out with media headlines: ‘The bullet that did not come out, the verdict that will come out.’”
“They can imprison me, but people will still earn miserable wages or lose their jobs,” she continued. “They can imprison me, but the retirees’ pensions will still be insufficient and they would not be able to make ends meet. They can imprison me, but medicines will keep becoming more and more expensive and inaccessible, not only for retirees but for all of our fellow citizens. They can imprison me, but parents will continue to believe that their children have the right to four meals a day.”
In response to the sentence against Fernández, former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa repudiated the court’s decision and expressed solidarity with her. Correa outlined his position on the case with the social media post: “Strength, Cristina! Strength, Argentina! Enough of lawfares! Defeat us—if you can—at the polls.”
The far-right Argentinian President Javier Milei, for his part, expressed his reaction as: “Justice. The End.” According to Milei, the author of austerity policies against all sectors of the country, “the Republic is working.”
Argentina: Thousands of Scientists Protest Milei’s Neoliberal Adjustment
The Road Infrastructure case
The Road Infrastructure case arose from allegations of irregularities in the awarding of public works contracts in 51 public roads projects in Santa Cruz province to businessman Lázaro Báez during the governments of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
According to a reportt from Página/12, the trial began with accusations that unfinished projects in Santa Cruz were paid for, and that they were overpriced. However, there was no evidence to back up these claims. In fact, the right-wing Mauricio Macri administration ordered an audit that showed the exact opposite: that nothing had been paid for that had not been built, and that the construction was of good quality.
Pressure on the judges intensified after Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced her intention to run for the Third Electoral Section of Buenos Aires province. The pressure groups demanded that the judges ban the former president before July 19, preventing her from registering her candidacy.
Fernández’s reaction
After the announcement of the sentence, Fernández de Kirchner spoke before a crowd of supporters to comdemn her political proscription and the lawfare against her.
“This case has a wonderful electoral schedule,” Fernández highlighted, linking the Supreme Court’s decision to her recent announcement that she would be a candidate for representative of the province of Buenos Aires.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JB/SC
