The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, has expressed his solidarity with his vice-president Cristina Fernández Kirchner, after an Argentine court sentenced her on Tuesday to six years in prison and life disqualification from holding public office for the ‘Vialidad case’.
«Today, in Argentina, an innocent person has been convicted. Someone whom the powers that be tried to stigmatize through the media and persecuted through complacent judges who ride around in private planes and luxury mansions on weekends», criticized the Argentine president.
Thus, the leader of the country, who has shown his «solidarity with Cristina Fernández knowing that she is the victim of an absolutely unjust persecution», has denounced that the conviction «is the result of a trial in which the minimum forms of due process were not taken care of», a process in which even «the principle of not judging the same fact twice was violated».
In this sense, Alberto Fernandez has maintained that, in this case, «politics has entered the courts». With this, «justice escapes through the window», he has lambasted, through a series of messages published on his Twitter account.
In addition, the president has urged the population to take Kirchner’s side «for his innocence.» «All good men and women who love democracy and the rule of law must stand by his side.»
Fernández had been accused of participating in a scheme to defraud the state through the concession of public works in Santa Cruz province during her tenure as president (2007-2015) and that of former president and her late husband, Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007).
Fernández reacted immediately after the sentence by denouncing being the victim of a «parallel State» and of «a judicial mafia» and remarked that when she was president of Argentina she had neither «control of the laws that are approved» in the Legislative nor «nor did she administer the budget».
In her extensive response, Fernández pointed out that «the real sentence is not prison», but «perpetual disqualification to hold public office» and announced that she will not run in the 2023 elections. «They condemn a model of economic development and recognition of the rights of the people,» he said.
