Cristina, wherefore art thou? Argentina on (permanent) CFK balcony watch

A judge on Thursday ruled that ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who began serving a six-year sentence for fraud under house arrest earlier this week, can continue greeting her supporters from her balcony.

Since her sentence began Tuesday, Fernández de Kirchner's supporters have been keeping vigil outside her apartment building in Constitución, Buenos Aires, and she has made several brief appearances for them from her second-floor balcony.

After losing her final appeal against her fraud conviction last week, the two-term former president's neighbourhood has been mobbed by her fiercely devoted followers.

The 72-year-old, who was convicted of "fraudulent administration" during her 2007-2015 presidency, has sought to mobilise her base by regularly appearing on her balcony.

But the terms of her confinement, which included a ban on "any behaviour that could disturb the peace of the neighbourhood" had led to fears that she could be confined to indoors.

According to the new ruling, the veteran Peronist will be able to utilise the balcony of her apartment at the San José 1111 address where she is serving house arrest as part of a six-year sentence in the ‘Vialidad’ case.

In a resolution issued Thursday, Judges Jorge Gorini and Rodrigo Gimenez Uriburu of Federal Oral and Criminal Court No. 2 maintained that “the court has not banned the use of any specific space of the architecture where she dwells.”

However, it explained “that the criteria of prudence are expected from the supplicant with sufficient common sense to discern in which context the use of the balcony could prove innocuous and in which it might imply a disturbance for the calm and peaceful co-existence of the neighbourhood.” 

A day earlier, Fernández de Kirchner posted a request on social media asking the court to clarify whether she may go out on the balcony of her flat while serving house arrest.

"May I go out on the balcony of my house or not? Sounds like a hassle but it isn’t … That’s why we are asking the court to please clarify what conduct is prohibited. I share the request for clarification presented by my lawyers," she wrote.

Fernández de Kirchner's conviction ended the career of a giant of the Argentine left, who has led opposition to libertarian President Javier Milei's austerity agenda.

Her sentence included a lifelong ban on her holding public office and a requirement that she wear an electronic monitoring anklet.

In an audio message played to a giant solidarity rally in central Buenos Aires on Wednesday, she vowed that the left would bounce back from what she and her supporters see as a politically-motived case.

"We will return, with greater wisdom, unity and strength," she declared.

Meanwhile, PRO deputy Silvana Guidici has presented a bill to prohibit a pardon or commutation of sentences for those convicted of corruption, influence-trafficking or embezzlement.

If the bill is approved, Fernández de Kirchner may not be pardoned since she has already been sentenced to six years in prison for fraudulent administration.

– TIMES/AFP