Former president Alberto Fernández is at the heart of a damaging scandal after his ex-partner, former first lady Fabiola Yáñez, formally accused of gender violence before the courts.
Yáñez, 43, on Tuesday filed a criminal complaint accusing the former head of state of having beaten her during their relationship, which ended after he left office in 2023.
She also accused her partner and father of her son of launching a campaign of “psychological terrorism” and harassment that has seen him attempt to contact her on a daily basis.
Her lawyer, Juan Pablo Fioribello, who has previously represented both of the duo, confirmed the development.
Reacting to the news, President Javier Milei on Wednesday criticised "progressive hypocrisy" after news of the accusation against his predecessor.
The scandal surrounding Fernández, 65, erupted when text messages detailing the alleged violence cropped up in a separate fraud investigation.
Yáñez's lawyer Fioribello, told the La Nación+ television channel on Tuesday that messages detailing the alleged attacks, with photographic evidence, were found on the phone of Fernández's private secretary, María Cantero.
The phone was being analysed as part of a probe into alleged influence-peddling during Fernández's administration.
An insurance provider close to the former president, Héctor Martínez Sosa, is at the heart of the investigation, which is probing reports that the ex-president arranged for his entourage to benefit from business related to the contracting of insurance by public agencies while he was head of state.
The investigation’s case file indicates that Yáñez wrote to Cantero about the alleged attacks, which are said to have taken place at the Olivos presidential residence.
According to various local media outlets, the victim sent a photo showing the blows she suffered at the hands of the head of state. No local outlet has printed images of the alleged abuse.
After initially deciding not to press charges during talks with the investigating court, Yáñez later contacted federal judge Julián Ercolini to reverse her decision.
The actor, presenter and journalist told the judge “I want to file a criminal complaint,” said Fioribello.
“I want to denounce him [Fernández] for the blows I received from him and the threats I have been suffering'," the lawyer reported Yáñez as saying.
She reportedly alleged that she was “hit” and “kicked” several times and, among others, sustained injuries to her face.
The former first lady’s legal team is now in contact with prosecutor Carlos Rívolo, who informed her about “the process of the proceedings and the powers granted by law, and the details that will be requested in the future,” said Ercolini’s court.
Local media reported that Ercolini had imposed "restriction and protection measures,” with Fernández forbidden from leaving the country amid the probe.
The former president, who led Argentina from 2019 to 2023, denies the allegations.
"The truth of the facts is different" and "it never happened," the Peronist leader said in a statement on the X social network.
He said that for "the integrity" of his children and "Fabiola herself" he would not make any statements and would only provide "evidence and testimony that will show what really happened."
Lawyer Fioribello, who has also represented Fernández in other legal matters, previously said the former president denied hitting Yáñez, but admitted the couple had bad arguments.
Yáñez and Fernández have a son who was born in 2022, during the veteran politician’s time as head of state. They separated after he left office in 2023.
Yáñez lives in Madrid with their son Francisco and her mother and grandmother, while Fernández lives in Buenos Aires.
Ercolini was recently nominated for Supreme Court justice by President Milei. Despite this, members of Fernández’s inner circle praised the judge’s handling of the investigation.
News of the alleged beatings first emerged in the Clarín newspaper, which has been sharply critical of Fernández in the past.
Sources close to the former president told Perfil this week that the allegation was being pushed by the media outlet.
Unión por la Patria national deputy Eduardo Valdés said in a radio interview on Thursday that he had spoken with the former president in the wake of the allegations.
"I see him with determination to show his innocence. He tells me he is innocent … he wants to talk to the judge and then to the media," Valdés said.
The legislator recalled that he has known Fernández since he was 18 years old, and said: "It is hard to believe that this is happening."
"He has had other partners and has never been accused of any of this,” Valdés added.
Kelly Olmos, who was Labour minister during Fernández’s administration, said publicly this week that she “couldn’t imagine Alberto in that situation.”
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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