Argentina
Cristina Kirchner's defense submitted a report to the UN to challenge the Vialidad conviction
The former president's lawyers added new documentation to their filing before the United Nations Human Rights Committee. They argue that data on a public works trust fund weakens the factual basis of the ruling.
The defense of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner submitted new documentation before the United Nations Human Rights Committee to challenge the conviction handed down in the Vialidad case. According to BAE Negocios, the announcement was made at a press conference by lawyers Alberto Beraldi, Rafael Valim and Javier Borrego.
According to the defense, the material emerged from testimonial evidence in the Cuadernos case, where a technician from the Dirección Nacional de Vialidad provided information from a database on the destination of funds from a transport trust fund. Based on those records, the lawyers argue that the companies of Lázaro Báez received a minimal share of those disbursements.
The figure repeated by the various outlets is 0.85% of the total. Radio Mitre added that the expert report analyzed the spreadsheet “Analítico 2008-2015 Xls,” included in case file 9608/2018 of the Tribunal Oral en lo Criminal Federal No. 7, and cross-checked those data with companies from the Grupo Austral, works in the Vialidad case and the evolution of the exchange rate. According to that reconstruction, Fuente 14 of the National Budget financed 367 projects carried out by 114 construction firms, with payments totaling US$2,200 million, and 17 of those projects were linked to the Vialidad case.
Also according to Radio Mitre, those 17 projects corresponded to Austral Construcciones, Gotti, Kank y Costilla and the Sucesión de Adelmo Biancalani, with 36 certificates paid for US$18.66 million. The same outlet said the Grupo Austral’s share declined between 2009 and 2015 and does not appear among the main beneficiaries of the scheme analyzed.
Beraldi said the new evidence disproves the accusation of a scheme set up to favor Báez and maintained that “the sentence against Cristina is unjust and the accusation was absolutely false,” according to BAE Negocios. ElDiarioAR also quoted the lawyer in the same vein and said he described the finding as “monumental.”
BAE Negocios recalled that the Vialidad ruling did not assign Báez a percentage of the trust fund, but rather found that the mechanism allowed Vialidad to decide discretionarily which projects to finance. The ruling specifically analyzed 51 contracts awarded to his companies in Santa Cruz.
The new documentation was added to the international filing the former president made against her conviction. According to BAE Negocios, she there alleged eight supposed violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including infringements on the right to be elected, to a fair trial, to the presumption of innocence, to review of the conviction by a higher court and to the principle of ne bis in idem.
In addition, the defense requested precautionary measures before the international body. Among them were the suspension of the lifetime ban on holding public office, changes to the conditions of house arrest and a modification in the composition of the Supreme Court, currently made up of three members, on the grounds that it cannot otherwise guarantee an effective remedy, according to BAE Negocios.
The former president is serving a six-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from holding public office for fraudulent administration to the detriment of the public administration. BAE Negocios said the Supreme Court upheld the ruling in June 2025. The UN Human Rights Committee will now review the filing and could first rule on the precautionary measures.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
