Federal Oral Court No. 7 rejected on Thursday the request for dismissal filed by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's defense in the case known as the Notebooks of Bribes, where an alleged illicit association and acts of corruption during the Kirchner administrations are being investigated.
The decision, signed by judges Enrique Méndez Signori, Germán Andrés Castelli, and Fernando Canero, also dismissed the plea of res judicata raised by attorneys Carlos Beraldi and Ari Llernovoy, which means that the former president will remain charged and must face the oral trial scheduled for November 6.
Cristina Kirchner.
The defense had argued that, after Cristina Kirchner's acquittal in the Vialidad case, confirmed by the Supreme Court on June 10, there was an "overlap of the procedural object" between both cases, which would make applicable the constitutional guarantee that prohibits being tried twice for the same act. According to the attorneys, in both cases she was accused of being part of an "association aimed at committing undetermined crimes."
However, Attorney General Estela Fabiana León considered the motion to be "formally and substantially inadmissible", since it did not demonstrate identity between the facts. The official explained that "the guarantee of not being tried twice blocks a new proceeding for the same historical act, not for 'plans' or global narratives".
In the same vein, the Financial Information Unit (UIF), headed by attorney Mariano Galpern, also opposed the dismissal. It argued that the defense sought to extrapolate generic similarities between different cases, without the required triple identity: person, object, and cause of criminal prosecution.
Judge Méndez Signori recalled that the defense had already raised a similar request in 2018, under the concept of lis pendens, which was also rejected at all levels. "The current motion is limited to reiterating dogmatic assertions, without proving that it concerns the same act," he stated in his vote.
Cristina en su cárcel.
With this ruling, Cristina Kirchner will finally face the oral trial for the Notebooks scandal, which exposed a network of illegal payments between state contractor businessmen and former Kirchner administration officials. The decision represents a new judicial setback for the former president, who continues to face multiple cases related to her administration.
