Buenos Aires, December 20 (NA) – Former President Cristina Kirchner, who was admitted to the Otamendi Sanitary Clinic on Saturday due to an abdominal ailment, is serving house arrest in Buenos Aires City following a six-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from holding public office.
At her home on San José 1111, the former head of state spends her days accompanied by an electronic ankle monitor, a measure that has not been lifted.
The Supreme Court of Justice confirmed this Thursday the continuity of the electronic monitoring device after rejecting the recusal motion presented against Justices Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti, as reported by the Argentine News Agency (NA).
Rejection of the Recusal
The tribunal argued that the defense's arguments lacked sufficient grounds and recalled that recusal is a "mechanism of exception with a restrictive interpretation," reserved for extraordinary circumstances. The motion, the judges stated, merely questioned the involvement of the justices without demonstrating an "objective fear of bias."
Reasons for the Ankle Monitor
When analyzing the extraordinary appeal against the control measure, the Court reminded that Article 33 of Law 24.660 establishes the use of electronic systems as a rule in cases of house arrest.
The ruling emphasized that the defense did not challenge the constitutionality of the norm nor did it refute the specific arguments of the court that ordered the measure. The justices stressed that the ankle monitor "contributes to judicial control over the ambulatory restriction," upholding the ruling of the Federal Oral Court No. 2 and the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation.
Visitation Regime, an Abstract Claim
Regarding the claim for home visitation rights, the Court declared the discussion abstract after the TOF 2 imposed new restrictions a month ago, following the dissemination on social media of images of meetings at Kirchner's apartment in the Constitución neighborhood.
Although those in the photos had individual authorization, the Tribunal warned that a simultaneous gathering had not been approved. Judge Jorge Gorini understood that the situation exceeded "the common sense of the rule," and therefore set new conditions.
Upcoming Hearing
The appeal against these restrictions will be analyzed on Monday, the 22nd, in a hearing before the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation, where lawyers Carlos Alberto Beraldi and Ary Llernovoy will present their arguments.
Procedural Situation
The case is part of the sequence opened after the ruling on June 10, when the Supreme Court made the conviction for fraudulent administration and perpetual disqualification final. A week later, the TOF 2 ordered house arrest with an ankle monitor and conditions of neighborhood protection and a prior list of visitors.
The Cassation Chamber IV confirmed this scheme in July, and with this resolution, the highest court made the control modality for the fulfillment of the sentence final.
