Political reading of Cristina’s imprisonment request

ARGENTINA - In Brief 08 Dec 2017 by Esteban Fernández Medrano

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On Thursday December 7th, Federal judge Claudio Bonadio (who is about to retire) requested the Senate to annul the Congressional immunity of recently sworn-in senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) and ordered her subsequent detention. This request came together with the actual detention (as they do not have judicial immunity) of former legal secretary Carlos Zannini and syndicalist leader Luis D´Elía. They add to the list of three detained persons in this case, of which the two most well-known are the former foreign affairs minister, Héctor Timerman (on house arrest due to health problems) and social activist Fernando Esteche (head of the notorious leftist Quebracho organization). Closing this list is Jorge Alejandro “Yussuf” Khalil, who allegedly acted as required intermediate link. They are being accused of high treason as the consequence of the signature of an international treaty with the government of Iran whose apparent aim was to investigate the terrorist attack in Argentina against AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) undertaken in 1994. Yet the accusation argues that this treaty, which was approved by the Argentine Congress when it was under Kirchnerist control but was never debated by the Iranian legislative, had in fact the opposite objective. I.e. to act as a legislative shield to protect the Iranian government officials accused to be involved in the terrorist attack from further Argentine judicial investigation, effectively generating a judicial dead-end and improving their international stance at Interpol. While former government officials argue that the aim was to continue to investigate while resuming political and trade relationship with...