Buenos Aires (EFE).- Argentina’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by the former president, Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) and upheld the six-year prison sentence and lifetime disqualification from holding public office handed down in 2022 for irregularities in the awarding of road contracts.
Following this unanimous decision by the three Supreme Court judges, Fernández could be detained in the coming hours or days to begin her sentence. The former president has described the case as an example of “lawfare,” or judicial and political persecution.
“The sentences handed down by the previous courts were based on the profuse evidence produced, without it having been demonstrated in any way that the appealed decision does not constitute a reasoned derivation of the law in force by the particular circumstances proven in the case, nor that any constitutional guarantee was violated during the process,” the ruling by judges Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti stated.
“Due process has been safeguarded, and the appellant has obtained a lawful sentence,” it added.
The decision thus ratified the second-instance conviction for irregularities in the awarding of public works contracts in the southern province of Santa Cruz.
However, the court’s ruling must be sent to another Court so that Judge Jorge Gorini, can enforce the sentence handed down in 2022. This means that she could be detained within the next few hours or days.
On Tuesday, Argentina’s President Javier Milei welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision saying that “justice” had been served.
“‘Justice. The end.’ P.S. The Republic is functioning, and all the corrupt journalists who are accomplices of lying politicians have been exposed in their operettas about the alleged impunity pact,” he posted on X, alluding to those who have accused him of maintaining a pact with the former president.
Fernández’s defense team can request that the judge grant the former president house arrest due to her age, as she turned 72 in February.
The Supreme Court’s ruling came eight days after Fernández announced her candidacy as a legislator in the Buenos Aires provincial legislative elections, scheduled for September.
As the decision was made before the official nomination deadline for the Jul. 19, 2025 elections, the former president is now disqualified from running.
Fernández was convicted in a case known as “Vialidad,” which investigated alleged irregularities in the awarding of 51 road contracts in Santa Cruz to companies owned by businessman Lázaro Báez during the governments of Néstor Kirchner (2003–2007) and Cristina Fernández.
She was convicted of fraudulent istration in 2022 but was not arrested due to her privileges as vice president and the pending review by the Federal Court of Criminal Cassation Chamber.
In November 2024, the Federal Court upheld the conviction against Fernández, who appealed to the Supreme Court.
On Monday, at her party’s headquarters and on the eve of the judge’s decision, the former president said that there are political figures who have acted against the interests of the country and yet walk “free” in the streets.
“Being imprisoned is a certificate of dignity,” she said.
Unions blocked access to Buenos Aires
Meanwhile, unions and social organizations began blockading various access points to Buenos Aires on Tuesday in anticipation of the ruling against Cristina Fernández.
Union of Automotive Transport Mechanics and Allied Workers (SMATA) is blocking traffic on the Panamericana highway, one of the principal access routes into Buenos Aires.
At another entrance to the city, to the west, unionists and social organizations are interrupting traffic while marching towards the headquarters of the Justicialist Party.
Further roadblocks have been reported on National Route 1, also known as the Buenos Aires–La Plata Highway, where traffic is restricted in both directions, as well as on the Ricchieri Highway, which connects Ezeiza International Airport with the city.
In addition to the SMATA union, the Metalworkers’ Union (UOM), the Association of State Workers (ATE), the Legislative Staff Association (APL), and the Banking Association have all confirmed that they will be rallying.
“The persecution of candidates confirms that electoral proscription is a necessary condition for imposing an economic and social model of inequality, fragmentation, and impoverishment of the majority,” the General Labour Confederation posted on its X . EFE
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