A federal court in Argentina has granted former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner house arrest to serve her six-year sentence for corruption charges. The court decided that the 72-year-old Fernandez’s age and visibility as a political figure made house arrest a reasonable option for her confinement. The court cited dangers to her safety “in a situation of prison confinement in coexistence with any type of prison population”. Fernandez’s safety “would become complex” in such a situation.
The former president’s house arrest must begin immediately, the court ruled. She will serve out her sentence at her apartment in Buenos Aires that she shares with her daughter and granddaughter. Fernandez “must remain at the registered address, an obligation that she may not break except in exceptional situations”. Any future visitors to the apartment — outside of household staff, healthcare workers and other approved individuals — will have to be vetted by the court.
Supporters of the former president took to the streets in Buenos Aires to protest over the past week, calling her lifetime ban from public office an act of political retribution. Fernandez was found guilty in 2022 of using public works projects, including roadways, to give beneficial contracts to a close associate of her family, Lazaro Baez. Prosecutors said the contracts awarded to Baez had rates 20 percent higher than normal — a sum that could translate to millions of dollars.
Other scandals have dogged her political career, including accusations of bribery and money laundering. Some of those cases continue to be weighed by Argentina’s judicial system. But Fernandez has dismissed the allegations against her as political attacks. She had been preparing to launch a bid in this year’s legislative elections, until the ban on her candidacy.
Fernandez served as Argentina’s president from 2007 to 2015, after succeeding her husband, the late Nestor Kirchner. In 2019, four years after she left the Casa Rosada — the “Pink House” of the presidency — Fernandez returned to the executive branch as vice president to Alberto Fernandez, another left-wing politician. Both Fernandez and Alberto Fernandez — who share no familial relation — faced sharp criticism for their management of Argentina’s economy. Since 2024, Fernandez has led the Justicialist Party, the main pillar of opposition against the government of current President Javier Milei, a libertarian.