In an unprecedented event, Argentina's Supreme Court has confirmed the sentence of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was found guilty in a 2022 corruption case. The leader of modern Peronism in the country has been sentenced to six years in prison, although she can request to serve under house arrest as she is over 70 years old. The sentence also carries a lifetime ban from holding public office.
The fact that a political figure with Kirchner's background and level of popularity is facing the end of her political ambitions is something unseen in Argentine judicial and political history. However, the ruling also emphasized the need for economic repair for the damages caused to public assets. Along those lines, the judges also ruled Kirchner and eight others must return almost 685 billion Argentine pesos (more than $540 million).
This ruling is the outcome of a lengthy judicial process that began in 2016 and faced pressure and attempts at political, electoral, media, and social sabotage. Because the case developed in a climate of great political tension, many supporters of the Justicialist Party (the largest branch within Peronism), along with Kirchner herself, claim that the ruling is a political maneuver to keep her out of the September election for a seat in the Buenos Aires City Legislature after she recently confirmed her candidacy. Another narrative frames every judicial move as part of a broader strategy of "lawfare"—using legal tools to weaken political opponents.
