Cristina Fernández seeks to expand defense in trial for corruption

The Argentine vice president, Cristina Fernández, announced this Monday that she will ask the federal court to try her for corruption accusations, which will allow her to expand the defense of the charges against her.

“I have instructed my lawyer so that, in order to be able to effectively exercise my right to defense at trial, request the extension of my preliminary statement for the hearing tomorrow, August 23,” said the former president (2007- 2015) on his Twitter account.

Fernández announced his decision hours before the prosecutors of the trial that has been following him since 2019, for having allegedly irregularly awarded dozens of road works to a businessman close to him during his mandate, finalize his accusatory argument, which could imply a request for prison sentence for the Peronist leader.

According to the vice president, this judicial process lacked evidence and the prosecutors, “in open violation of the principle of defense at trial, raised issues in their accusation that had never been raised.”

It is unknown if the court will rule on the former president’s request before the end of the prosecutors’ argument.

Fernández de Kirchner, 69, is accused of having led a criminal association that benefited businessman Lázaro Báez in the southern province of Santa Cruz with some 51 road works, many of them unfinished, as well as fraud to the detriment of the public administration.

According to prosecutor Diego Luciani, the Austral Construcciones company headed by Báez was a structure created to extract funds from the State by directing bids and when Fernández de Kirchner’s term ended, the company disappeared.

“Austral Construcciones could only subsist with the protection and consent of the then president,” he said.

The vice president has denied the charges and maintains that the court has already “written and even signed” the sentence against her.

The former ruler considers herself the victim of persecution by sectors of the justice system that she links to her successor in power, Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), who today is one of the opposition’s leading figures.

This is the first oral trial that Fernández de Kirchner faces, and the court will give him several days to defend himself. Another 12 people are charged, including several former officials and businessman Báez.

The support for the vice president by members of the government, legislators and militants of the ruling party Frente de Todos has been increasing in recent days. The messages of support maintain that the leader has suffered a “media-judicial onslaught” for years.

The court is expected to issue the sentence at the end of the year, which can be appealed before various instances and will not be valid until it is final.

The vice president has faced various judicial investigations in recent years, in which she was acquitted without going to trial.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.