A federal Argentine judge had charged former president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner with treason and demanded her arrest. The charge is based on allegations that she attempted to cover up Iranian involvement in a 1994 terrorist bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community centre.
In the official court documentation, Judge Claudio Bonadio makes accusations of Fernández stating that she obfuscated an Iranian role in an attack which killed 85 innocent people. It is asserted that she carried out the cover up in exchange for a beneficial trade deal.
The Argentinian court made a request that Fernández’s immunity from criminal prosecution be revoked. As a sitting senator Fernández enjoys immunity from charges such as this.
Punctuating the seriousness of these charges, Argentinian police carried out raids on suspects linked to the case. They arrested a total of three of Fernández’s former associates and political aides. Fernández’s former foreign minister Hector Timerman is currently under house arrest.
The investigation leading to these charged was started by Alberto Nisman who accused Fernández of participating in a cover-up of the terrorist attack. Nisman was later found dead in this apartment’s bathroom with a bullet in his head.
While not a common occurrence the revocation of governmental protection is not unheard of in Argentina. In October this year the congress voted in favour of revoking protections given to the country’s former planning minister after charges of corruption and fraud.
Fernández served from 2007-2015 as the president of Argentina and was considered a part of a new trend of leftist leaders in Latin America. Fernández has routinely denied any allegations of wrongdoing against her and continued to do so against these most recent charges.
Fernández stated that the new charges had no relation to “justice or democracy” and that she is being wrongfully accused. She claims that this is part of a government conspiracy against her.
The last time an Argentinian was accused with treason was all the way back in 1936 when Major Guillermo Mac Hannaford was charged with giving information to Paraguay and Bolivia.
While Fernández does not have a great deal of support in the senate, observers have said that it is not very likely her immunity will be revoked. This is because of fears that prosecuting her will make her a left-wing martyr.
The new charges followed a fresh police report that restarted the investigation originally made by Nisman. His death came only days after he accused Fernández of having a role in the cover-up of Iran’s involvement in the attack on the Jewish community, raising suspicion he was assasinated.