Updated: Argentine VP Cristina Fernandez guilty, 6 years for fraud [View all]

[Eugene]

Last edited Tue Dec 6, 2022, 05:12 PM - Edit history (1)

EDIT: article updated at link

Original AP headline: Argentina awaits VP Cristina Fernández corruption verdict

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Source: Associated Press

Argentine VP Cristina Fernández guilty, 6 years for fraud

By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
December 6, 2022

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was convicted and sentenced Tuesday to 6 years in prison and a lifetime ban from holding public office for a fraud scheme that embezzled $1 billion through public works projects during her presidency.

A three-judge panel found the Peronist leader guilty of fraud, but rejected a charge of running a criminal organization, for which the sentence could have been 12 years in prison. It’s the first time an Argentine vice president has been convicted of a crime while in office.

The sentence isn’t firm until appeals are decided, a process that could take years. She’ll remains immune from arrest meanwhile, as long as she can keep getting elected.

Speaking after the verdict, she described herself as the victim of a “judicial mafia.”

Her supporters vowed to paralyze the country with a nationwide strike.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-south-america-buenos-aires-argentina-17d4361a9d612a5a39fce125d8cbb20c