Legal procedure experts emphasize that holding in-person hearings and avoiding interruptions, such as judicial recesses, are key to ensuring transparency, deterrence, and credibility in the justice system.
This push for acceleration comes at a time when society demands rigor amid growing public discontent over corruption, fiscal costs, and the persistence of entrenched power structures within the state.
Judicial authorities have pointed out that the digital platform limits interaction between judges and defendants and prolongs the proceedings.
The 'Cuadernos' case is considered the largest corruption trial in recent Argentine history, with the former president at its center as the 'head of a criminal association' alongside other former officials and businessmen.
Its magnitude and complexity have raised questions about the trial's slowness and format.
The Casación's call also sends a political signal that the Judicial Branch aims to regain control and visibility in a case that has been marred by delays, criticism of the use of virtual tools, and a deployment of resources without the expected speed.
This measure means that the oral court and the Casación must decide within days whether to adopt in-person proceedings, increase the frequency of hearings, and ensure the necessary material and human resources for the trial.
The immediate future of the process depends on three factors: the availability of a suitable courtroom (the AMIA room is a candidate), the allocation of more hearing days, and the lifting of the summer recess to maintain a continuous pace.
In turn, the prosecution hopes this decision will allow for 'no excuses' for an effective public trial and a verdict that reaffirms the state's response to systematic corruption.
The challenge for the Argentine judicial system is immense: to transform a virtual, sluggish, and low-visibility process into a trial that proceeds at an appropriate pace, with transparency, guarantees, and the ability to deliver effective sentences.
Buenos Aires, November 11, 2025 – Total News Agency-TNA– The Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation has summoned the oral court overseeing the case known as the 'Cuadernos Kickbacks Case' – in which former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and 86 other defendants are the main accused – with the aim of defining a schedule to expedite the process, normalize in-person hearings, and eliminate the summer judicial recess.
If these conditions are not met, the trial could be delayed and lose its institutional impact.
The pressure from the Casación also presents a dilemma for the defendants' defense: they will have to adapt to a more demanding pace and an in-person environment, which could limit new dilatory strategies.
The reading of the prosecutor's request – which exceeds 225,000 words – is already more than halfway done, but at the current frequency, it would take years to finish.
The implementation schedule for these measures will be closely watched by political, media, and social circles.
It is impossible to understand the curious decision of TOF 7 to hear the case only once a week via Zoom, all very much to the measure of the accused, who showed absolute contempt on the first day of the hearing, appearing in bed, eating, or not appearing on the Zoom screen, as Cristina Kirchner did.
The Federal Chamber of Cassation brought its members together – Daniel Petrone, Gustavo Hornos, Ángela Ledesma, Carlos Mahiques, and Mariano Borinsky – at the Tuesday's Superintendent's Agreement, where they set a meeting for November 18 with the judges of the Criminal Oral Court No. 7 (TOCF 7) to coordinate measures.
In its ruling, the Casación warned that the current pace of the process – with virtual hearings once a week, on Thursdays – 'could extend the trial's duration by more than four years,' which would violate the principles of immediacy, publicity, and celeracy that must govern a public oral trial.
Therefore, it will propose to the court that sessions be held in person at least three times a week and that the courtroom be the recently renovated AMIA room at Comodoro Py, or similar suitable infrastructure.
The start of the oral trial, held on November 11 in a virtual format, reported that 87 defendants and their defenders participated via Zoom.
