After the electoral defeat, Cristina returns to the dock for the Notebooks case

After the harsh electoral blow, convicted Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will face the most sensitive trial of her political career. Next Thursday, November 6 at 9:30 a.m., the hearings for the "Bribery Notebooks" case will begin virtually, the file that documents the alleged bribery system that operated for twelve years under her government and that of her late husband, Néstor Kirchner.

The judicial process will be overseen by Federal Oral Court No. 7 (TOF 7), composed of judges Enrique Méndez Signori, Germán Castelli, and Fernando Canero, with prosecutor Fabiana León representing the Public Prosecutor's Office. A lengthy trial is expected: more than 140 defendants and 600 witnesses will testify until March 2026, when double weekly hearings will begin.

The case, originally driven by the late judge Claudio Bonadio and prosecutor Carlos Stornelli, has its roots in the handwritten notebooks of driver Oscar Centeno, who precisely recorded the routes, dates, and amounts of money that were part of a systematic illegal fundraising structure. For the judiciary, it was considered "the largest corruption scheme of the last twenty years."

According to the 678-page indictment, the criminal organization was first led by Néstor Kirchner and then by Cristina, and included Julio De Vido, Roberto Baratta, José López, Claudio Uberti, and Daniel Muñoz, among others. The scheme allegedly operated steadily between 2003 and 2015, with the goal of collecting illegal funds from state contractors and financing Kirchnerist political power.

The file describes a hierarchical structure, with defined roles and ongoing coordination between officials and businesspeople. Part of the funds, according to the accusation, were used for the personal enrichment of those involved and to sustain the machinery of power. Several parts of this mega-case led to parallel investigations, including those related to public works, transportation subsidies, tolls, and money laundering abroad. Two of those segments have already ended with final convictions.

The start of the trial comes five months after the Supreme Court upheld the six-year prison sentence and lifetime disqualification from holding public office against Cristina Kirchner for the Vialidad case, in which she was also found guilty of corruption.

The Notebooks trial once again puts Cristina Kirchner face to face with her darkest past. After the electoral defeat and with a final conviction in the Vialidad case, the former president now faces a process that could mark the definitive end of her political power. What was once the heart of Kirchnerism is now bleeding out amid judicial cases, loss of social support, and a decline that already seems irreversible.