The prosecution is preparing this Monday to request a prison sentence against the Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner for alleged corruption when she was president (2007-2015), a punishment that, if confirmed, could disqualify her politically.
Prosecutor Sergio Mola opened the ninth and last hearing of allegations of accusation with a review of the details of the case where more than a hundred witnesses testified.
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Mola considered that the defendants “traced a plan” that sought to defraud the State through “discretion in the use of funds.”
The trial, which began in May 2019, investigates whether there was directing and overpricing in the award of public works in the southern province of Santa Cruz, the political cradle of the Kirchners.
Throughout the pleadings hearings, followed by those involved remotely, the prosecution targeted Kirchner as the leader of an illicit association and accused her of state fraudcrimes that can carry a sentence of up to 16 years in prison.
The Penal Code establishes that whoever is convicted of these crimes will be disqualified from holding public office.
For this, the conviction must be endorsed by higher courts.
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After the prosecution’s accusation is closed, the defense has 10 business days to start exposing their defense for the 13 defendants, which is estimated to take several months.
The verdict is expected to be known before the end of the year.
The prosecution accuses the vice president of leading an “illicit association” to defraud the state through crimes that began in the previous presidency of her late husband, Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), who died in 2010.
The Financial Information Unit (FIU) had considered “irresponsible to proceed with an accusation” by dismissing the prosecution’s arguments about the existence of the crimes of fraudulent administration and illicit association.
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On Sunday, a public letter signed by more than half a thousand mayors supported Kirchner, whom they considered “the victim of judicial persecution.”
Given the lack of evidence in the oral trial and the statements of the witnesses who demolished Iguacel’s complaint; the prosecutors, in open violation of the principle of defense at trial, mounted issues in their accusation that had never been raised. Thus…
– Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) August 22, 2022
Deputies from the ruling Frente de Todos also launched a statement of support for Kirchner, president of the Senate, as well as a request published this Monday in the press under the signature of political and cultural references.
The 69-year-old vice president was dismissed in several cases for alleged crimes that occurred in her two presidential periods (2007-2015), but she still faces five trials.
AFP
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