(Credit: Ignacio Amiconi/Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) –– The Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation of Argentina decided on Monday to reopen two cases in which the vice president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, is accused, and gives rise to the respective oral trials.
The rulings revoke the dismissal measures that had been issued for both cases – Memorandum of Understanding with Iran and Hotesur-Los Sauces – in October and November 2021, respectively. Both Criminal Cassation rulings can be appealed to Argentina's Supreme Court, the country's highest court.
CNN is seeking the reaction of Fernández de Kirchner, the country's former president for two consecutive terms (2007-2015). In the past, she has maintained her innocence in both cases.
- Who is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and what is her relevance in Argentine politics?
In the case of the agreement with Iran, the ruling gives rise to appeals in cassation filed by two plaintiffs and reverses the decision to dismiss the case, which returns "the proceedings to the national court in order to comply with the procedural acts pending production".
The vice president was charged with alleged cover-up when signing the Memorandum with Iran, which agreed to a joint investigation into the attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in 1994, which killed 85 people and left more than 300 injured.
advertising
Fernandez de Kirchner's lawyer, once the case was dismissed, said the process against the former president was "unfair." "After five years of unfair process where many consorts of cause lost their freedom, many lost their health and many have been stoned and defamed in their honor, like Cristina who was even branded a traitor to the homeland for this cause," her lawyer said in October 2021.
With regard to the Hotesur-Los Sauces case, the judgement gives rise to the appeal in cassation lodged by the representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office. Consequently, it revokes the previous dismissal of the case.
In the Hotesur-Los Sauces case, Fernández de Kirchner and other defendants are accused of alleged crimes of money laundering, illicit association and negotiations incompatible with public function, for alleged corruption maneuvers through hotel and real estate businesses of the Kirchner family during their mandates. The reopening of this case includes the former president and her son, Maximo, current national deputy, while her daughter, Florencia, has been dismissed.
The indictment alleges that the Kirchners received money from the rents that two businessmen, both public works contractors, paid to the Hotesur and Los Sauces companies while benefiting from tenders and contracts granted by the authorities during the Fernández de Kirchner governments. In the past, the vice president's lawyers have said that "Hotesur SA and Los Sauces SA were legal businesses."
Agustín Milic contributed to this report.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner