Argentine Supreme Court upholds 6-year prison sentence for ex-President Fernandez

Argentina's highest court upheld a six-year prison sentence for former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in a ruling Tuesday that permanently banned her from public office over the corruption conviction that found she had directed state contracts to a friend while she was the first lady and president. The explosive Supreme Court ruling left Fernandez, Argentina's charismatic yet deeply divisive ex-leader, subject to arrest and sent her supporters pouring into the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, and blocking major highways in protest. The court asked Argentina's security ministry to set up a detention centre to hold 72-year-old Fernandez. Her defense lawyer Carlos Beraldi told C5N, a television station in Buenos Aires, that he had requested Fernandez be allowed to serve her sentence in house arrest given her age. The ruling bars Fernandez from running in this fall's Buenos Aires legislative elections just days after she launched her campaign. Fernandez, who dominated Argentine politics for two decades and forged the country's main left-wing populist movement known as Kirchnerism, after her and her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, rejects the charges as politically motivated. During Fernandez's eight years in office (2007-2015), Argentina expanded cash payments to the poor and pioneered major social assistance programs.

But her governments funded the unbridled state spending by printing money, bringing Argentina notoriety for massive budget deficits and sky-high inflation. Critics blamed Argentina's years of economic volatility on Fernandez's policies, and outrage over successive economic crises and the country's bloated bureaucracy helped vault radical libertarian President Javier Milei to the presidency in late 2023. The ruling dealt a severe blow to Milei's opposition during a crucial midterm election year. He celebrated the ruling, writing on social media: "Justice. Period." Fernandez was embroiled in multiple corruption scandals during her tenure. She was convicted in 2022 in this corruption case, which centred on 51 public contracts for public works awarded to companies linked to Lazaro Baez, a convicted construction magnate and friend of the presidential couple, at prices 20% above the standard rate ally in a scheme that cost the state tens of millions of dollars. The high court rejected Fernandez's request for the court to review her prison sentence in March. In a resolution obtained by The Associated Press, the court said that the prison sentence "does nothing more than to protect our republican and democratic system." The Kirchner governments carried out "an extraordinary fraudulent maneuver" that harmed the interests of the government and resulted in the embezzlement of roughly $70 million at the current exchange rate, the resolution said. Supporters of Fernandez and her political movement blocked main roads into Buenos Aires and stormed the offices of Argentina's two main cable networks that are widely considered critical of the ex-leader, Channel 13 and Todos Noticias, smashing televisions, vandalising cars and shattering windows. There were no injuries reported. Fernandez rejected the decision, calling the court justices "puppets" of those wielding economic power in the country. "They're three puppets answering to those ruling far above them," she told supporters in a rousing speech outside her party's headquarters. "It's not the opposition. It's the concentrated economic power of Argentina's government." Gregorio Dalbon, one of Fernandez's lawyers, vowed "to take this case to all international human rights organisations." Fernandez has questioned the impartiality of the judges. She claims her defense didn't have access to much of the evidence and that it was gathered without regard to legal deadlines. Fernandez faces a series of other upcoming trials on corruption charges.