In Argentina, the Supreme Court decision, validating a law reducing the sentence of whistleblowers in conspiracies, has complicated Vice President Cristina Kirchner’s position in a corruption case that sentenced her to prison.
On September 19, the Supreme Court of Argentina decided to support a law that has reopened charges against the vice president of Argentina, amidst electoral campaigns for the presidential and legislative elections taking place in October.
The case involves the sentence put forward against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the current vice president of Argentina, for participating in a criminal organization implicating government workers. In late 2022, Ms. Kirchner was sentenced to six years in jail for these crimes but has been able to stay out of prison due to her political immunity.
The development involving the Supreme Court is part of the appeal process Ms. Kirchner initiated, vouching for her innocence.
Ms. Kirchner and her cohorts are faced with 540 instances of corruption. The defendants allegedly received bribes from companies, initially brought to light by the driver for the Ministry of Planning, Oscar Centeno.
Mr. Centeno recorded trips that allegedly brought money to Cristina Kirchner’s domicile, where it was received by her now-deceased former private secretary Daniel Muñoz.
Several government workers implicated in the case benefited from law 27.304 from the Argentinian penal code passed in 2016. This “law of the repentant” allows for a reduced prison sentence for those who provide information that “prevents the initiation, continuance or consummation of a criminal offense.”
Cristina Kirchner sentenced to six years in prison in 2022
In response to the application of the law, a defendant and former minister of planning under the Kirchners, Julio Miguel De Vido, created a formal cassation recourse during his defense hearing in 2018 and argued the law was unconstitutional.
In November 2020, this cassation recourse was denied by two of the three acting judges in the case, the third acting in dissent citing the unconstitutionality of the law. Mr. De Vido responded by making another cassation recourse, which was also denied. Then, he made a formal complaint, which took this case to the Supreme Court, the highest jurisdiction in the country.
As of yesterday, the Supreme Court decided to support the constitutionality of the law of the repentant, reopening the case against Ms. Kirchner and her alleged cohorts.
The reopening of these charges comes right during an electoral campaign where the vice president will not seek another term but still has influence in Argentine politics. Ms. Kirchner previously served two terms as president of Argentina and is identified as a figure of Kirchnerism.
Javier Milei, the leader of Libertad Avanza, a coalition of right-wing, nationalist and libertarian parties, who finished first in the primary elections determining the candidates for the presidency, recently declared that he would “end Kirchnerism and the political class.”
In addition to this case, the vice president is facing other charges, including one involving money laundering that recently reopened. It contained a vote from the same two of the three judges, which is being appealed by Kirchner’s lawyer who complains that all three judges, the same as the other case, should have been present.
