The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation took a key step this Tuesday in the Vialidad case file, where Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was sentenced to six years in prison and a lifetime disqualification from holding public office. Through the criminal secretariat, the highest court decided to forward the appeal of the prosecutor before the Chamber of Cassation, Mario Villar, to the interim Attorney General, Eduardo Casal, for an opinion.
Although the Attorney General's opinion is not binding, his intervention marks the first formal move by the Court in a case of high institutional impact, where serious irregularities in the awarding of public works during the Kirchner governments were judged.
Casal, in his capacity as head of the prosecutors and prosecutor before the Court, must rule on the request of Villar, who requested that the sentence against the former president be extended to 12 years in prison, incorporating the crime of illicit association, in addition to fraudulent administration. If this position is supported, the way would be clear for the Court to move forward toward a final ruling, which would jeopardize Fernández's political ambitions.
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Currently, the file in the hands of the Court contains 17 pending appeals. Among them is the presentation of Cristina Kirchner's defense, led by her lawyer Carlos Alberto Beraldi, which attempts to overturn the sentence ratified by the Federal Oral Court No. 2 and Chamber IV of the Chamber of Cassation.
This appeal represents the former president's last judicial attempt to prevent the sentence from becoming final and activating not only the prison sentence—which could be served under house arrest given her age, over 70 years—but also the lifetime disqualification from holding public office, which would be applied immediately.
