Almost all the judges and prosecutors who tried Cristina were appointed by her.

From the beginning of the Vialidad case investigation to the conviction, which was later upheld by the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation, a total of 20 officials were involved in the judicial process, including judges and prosecutors. Several of them were appointed during the Kirchner administrations.

The file, which will reach the Supreme Court in a few days, was one of the arguments used by the United States government to cancel the entry visa of Cristina Kirchner to that country, a measure that also affects her children, Florencia and Máximo Kirchner.

In her last public appearance, the convicted former president and vice president criticized the Cassation, which rejected her appeal against the confirmation of the sentence that declared her guilty of the crime of fraudulent administration to the detriment of the State. According to the ruling's grounds, the economic damage caused amounts to 85 billion pesos.

With this resolution, the case that investigated the awarding of 51 bids to Lázaro Báez, then business partner of Cristina Kirchner, will fall under the jurisdiction of the Court when the defendants and the Public Prosecutor's Office file a complaint, the last instance of process review.

The judges appointed by Kirchnerism

The case began to be instructed by federal judge Julián Ercolini, who prosecuted the former Kirchnerist president for illicit association as leader and fraudulent administration to the detriment of the State. Ercolini took control of Federal Court No. 10 on October 7, 2004, with an appointment signed by then-president Néstor Kirchner.

When the oral trial, led by Federal Oral Court 2, began in 2019, the file had already passed through the prosecution of Gerardo Pollicita, who arrived at Comodoro Py in 2005, during the first Kirchner presidency. Ignacio Mahiques also intervened, appointed prosecutor on June 15, 2015, through a decree signed by Cristina Kirchner.

The accusation presented by judge Julián Ercolini was reviewed by Chamber II of the Buenos Aires Federal Chamber, which at that time was composed of magistrates Leopoldo Bruglia and Jorge Ballestero. The latter had originally been part of Chamber I and accessed his position after a decision made in 2018 by the then vice president and former president.

With the ratification of the prosecution, Ercolini sent the case to oral trial with the following charge: "During the Kirchner administrations, a corruption scheme was established from the Government and state agencies linked to public works", where "a criminal organization was set up" for the "embezzlement of public funds through the discretionary allocation of practically 80% of road works in favor of Grupo Austral", of Lázaro Báez.

Under these accusations, Cristina Kirchner faced the oral trial. After more than two and a half years of hearings, on December 6, 2022, Federal Oral Court 2 delivered its guilty verdict, finding her guilty of the crime of fraudulent administration to the detriment of the State. The imposed sentence was six years in prison and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The judges who signed that sentence were appointed during the former vice president's administration. In 2011, Jorge Gorini and Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu were sworn in as members of Federal Oral Court 2 (TOF 2).

In 2015, through the same procedure, Andrés Basso joined TOF 3, and years later was selected by lottery to join TOF 2, the court responsible for conducting the trial against Cristina Kirchner and 15 other defendants for alleged irregularities in public works.

General prosecutor Diego Luciani, who during his argument and in the subsequent appeal to the conviction requested that the crime of illicit association as leader also be included, with a sentence of twelve years in prison, assumed his position on September 9, 2013, through decree 1137, signed by Cristina Kirchner.

The appeal of the sentence by both the prosecution and the defense of the accused took the case to Chamber IV of the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation, composed of judges Mariano Borinsky, Gustavo Hornos, and Diego Barroetaveña. The first of them was appointed on September 27, 2011, during Cristina Kirchner's presidential administration.

Despite all this evidence, this Saturday, in a public event, the former vice president called the Cassation Chamber "Macrista" for having rejected her extraordinary appeal, with which she sought to annul the confirmation of her conviction for corruption.