Prosecutors in Argentina’s graft case against former president Cristina Kirchner on Tuesday opposed her request to serve a six-year sentence under house arrest.
This decision comes just a day before she is scheduled to surrender to authorities.
Last week, Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld the 72-year-old’s conviction for fraud, along with her six-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from holding public office. This ruling exhausted her final appeal option after she was found guilty in 2022 of fraud related to public works tenders awarded during her 2007-2015 presidency.
Kirchner has until Wednesday to report to authorities to begin her sentence. She had requested house arrest, citing Argentine law allowances for convicted individuals over 70, as well as security concerns, arguing that as a former president, she is entitled to lifelong police protection that would not be available in prison.
Credit: AP News
However, prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola submitted a document to the court on Tuesday, contending that house arrest is granted only in exceptional circumstances.
They argued that “the humanitarian reasons that would justify such an exceptional measure are not evident” in this particular case, noting a lack of “health or personal reasons suggesting that incarceration would compromise a dignified or humane treatment.”
Should the court approve house arrest, the prosecutors have requested that Kirchner be required to wear an electronic bracelet.
Hundreds of Kirchner’s supporters have maintained a continuous vigil outside her Buenos Aires apartment since the Supreme Court’s ruling and are preparing for demonstrations in the capital on Wednesday.
Kirchner has been a dominant leftist figure in Argentine politics for the past two decades.
