The Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation rejected the request for house arrest submitted by Lázaro Báez and confirmed that the alleged frontman of the Kirchner couple must continue serving his unified 15-year sentence in Ezeiza prison for the Vialidad and Route of Money cases.
The decision was made by Chamber IV of the highest criminal court, with the votes of judges Javier Carbajo and Gustavo Hornos. Judge Mariano Borinsky dissented and argued that the situation of the convicted should be reviewed due to his age and health problems.
The IV Criminal Cassation Chamber
Thus, the resolution of Federal Oral Court No. 4 was confirmed, which had determined that Báez can receive the necessary medical attention within the Federal Penitentiary Complex I of Ezeiza. The court also ordered that penitentiary authorities submit weekly reports on his condition.
The defense had requested that he serve his sentence at his home in Santa Cruz. His lawyers argued that periodic checks and the continuity of treatments required for his various conditions were not ensured within the prison.
Báez, 70 years old, suffers from high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, overweight, and hemorrhoids. Additionally, he underwent two surgeries, performed in November 2025 and during July of this year, in which colon polyps were removed. The results of the anatomical pathology study from the last procedure are still awaited.
Carbajo stated that the deprivation of liberty does not prevent the convicted from receiving adequate treatment and emphasized that there was no evidence of concrete harm or an impossibility of medical assistance within the prison. Hornos agreed and considered the checks carried out to be sufficient, discounting a situation of medical neglect incompatible with remaining in prison.
Lázaro Báez will remain in prison
In contrast, Borinsky stated that the care provided by the Federal Penitentiary Service was “reactive and delayed.” To justify his vote, he mentioned Báez's age and the accumulation of chronic diseases that, he argued, require continuous and multidisciplinary monitoring.
This was the fourth presentation made by Báez before Cassation since he returned to prison in 2025. After the new judicial setback, he will remain housed in Ezeiza while serving the sentence imposed for two of the main corruption cases linked to public works during the Kirchnerist governments.
