A court has approved a request from former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner seeking permission for a home visit from Brazil’s head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Fernández de Kirchner, 72, began serving a six-year prison sentence for fraud and corruption charges on June 18.
Granted house arrest by the courts, she is not allowed to leave her apartment in the Constitución neighbourhood in Buenos Aires and must wear an electronic ankle monitor.
She is also banned from holding public office.
A ruling issued by Federal Judge Judge Jorge Gorini Tuesday states that Lula’s visit will take place on Thursday, July 3, at Fernández de Kirchner’s residence at San José 1111.
“Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is authorised to receive a visit at the residence where she is serving her house arrest from the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula, on Thursday, 3 July,” the magistrate ruled.
The judge said the ex-president must comply strictly with conduct regulations imposed by the court, including “not disturbing the peace of the [local] neighbourhood and/or alter the peaceful coexistence of its inhabitants.”
The visiting hours will be decided by the parties involved and must be communicated to the court once they have been finalised.
Lula will be in Buenos Aires on Thursday to attend the Mercosur presidential summit, of which Argentina holds the pro-tempore rotating Presidency. It will be the Brazilian president’s first visit to the country since President Javier Milei – an ideological rival – took office in December 2023.
Fernández de Kirchner’s lawyers requested permission from the courts for Lula to visit her at her flat earlier this week.
The court that sentenced her previously ruled that the former president must seek authorisation to receive visits from anyone outside her immediate family, medical staff, or legal team.
Fernández de Kirchner is still waiting for clarity as to whether she can have unlimited visitors, as her lawyers have requested.
She has also been ordered to adhere to behavioural conditions aimed at avoiding disturbances to public order, following previous demonstrations by her supporters outside her building.
After Fernández de Kirchner's sentencing, President Lula publicly expressed his solidarity and revealed he had spoken to her by phone.
"I was pleased to see the calm and resolve with which Cristina is facing this adverse situation, and her determination to continue fighting," Lula wrote in a post on social media last month.
Lula has some understanding of the situation facing Fernández de Kirchner. The head of state was himself imprisoned in Curitiba between 2018 and 2019 after being convicted in a corruption case – a conviction later annulled by Brazil’s Supreme Court.
During his incarceration, Lula was visited by former president Alberto Fernández (2019–2023), who at the time was a presidential candidate in Argentina and Fernández de Kirchner’s running-mate.
Anklet debate
Defence lawyers representing Fernández de Kirchner have also filed an appeal against the condition that she must wear an ankle bracelet while serving house arrest, calling it “inappropriate” given the significance of the resolutions imposed on her.
Prosecutors in the case that saw her conviction have also appealed against the conditions imposed on the former president, arguing that her petition for house arrest should be revoked.
– TIMES/AFP/BLOOMBERG
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