Former President Alberto Fernández has appealed today his indictment for gender violence against Fabiola Yáñez and has requested to be dismissed in the document that will be evaluated by the Federal Chamber of Buenos Aires. The defense of the former president, led by Silvina Carreira, has asked the Appeals Court to overturn the decision of federal judge Julián Ercolini and issue the dismissal for the former president due to the "vagueness of the accusation," according to judicial sources.
In the submitted document, it is argued that there is a "contradiction" in the facts reported by Yáñez and that this "violates the guarantee" of due process, as "a deficient accusation does not allow for an effective defense" since Fernández does not know "what he should specifically defend against."
Chamber II of the Appeals Court will soon establish a date for a preliminary hearing before deciding whether to confirm, modify, or revoke the indictment. Fernández was indicted with a lien of ten million pesos for "minor injuries aggravated by having been committed in a context of gender violence and against his partner, repeated in 2 instances; serious injuries aggravated by having been committed in a context of gender violence and against his partner; and coercive threats."
The last crime mentioned refers to his attempt to prevent Yáñez from filing a complaint before Judge Ercolini, when the magistrate found images of the former first lady with bruises on the cell phone of the former private secretary of the ex-president, María Cantero. All of this took place in the context of another criminal case investigating crimes related to the hiring of insurance policies during Fernández's government, in which both the former president and Cantero were questioned.
Now, federal judge Sebastián Casanello will have to define the procedural situations of Fernández and Cantero in this other case, which was previously overseen by Ercolini until mid-February as the substitute judge of federal court 11, which was vacant, but which Casanello has now fully taken over.
