• In a case which shook Argentina, a judge sentenced Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to six years in prison for corruption.
• Fernández, 69, was judged accountable for “fraudulent administration” when he gave a friend contracts for public works projects.
• Fernández enjoys some immunity, and it’s anticipated that she’ll start a protracted appeals process.

Fernández, 69, was judged accountable for “fraudulent administration” when he gave a friend contracts for public works projects.

She won’t likely go to jail, though.

Through her government positions, Fernández enjoys some immunity, and it’s anticipated that she’ll start a protracted appeals process.

While the issue is being reviewed by higher courts, she has also been permanently barred from holding public office but will stay in her position as vice president.

The prosecution had asked for a 12-year prison term.

Fernández claimed that she was the victim of politically driven accusations. She claimed that she was a victim of a “judicial mafia” in remarks made following the decision, according to the news agency Associated Press.

She had also charged the prosecutors with lying and defaming her prior to the decision.

In Argentina, a vice-president has never before been found guilty of a crime while holding public office.

From 2007 to 2015, Fernández served as president of Argentina, according to the prosecution, who claimed that during that period, she had an illegal partnership.

In exchange for bribes, they claimed she had set up a kickback network that directed lucrative public work contracts towards a friend of hers.

Construction company owner and businessman Lázaro Báez, who was charged with being the scheme’s primary beneficiary, was also given a six-year prison term. Last year, he had already received a money-laundering term of 12 years in prison.

Another eleven defendants were on trial. Three people were let go, one had their case dismissed, and seven were found guilty and given sentences ranging from three and a half to six years in prison.

In scores of public work tenders awarded in the southern province of Santa Cruz, Fernández’s political heartland, the prosecutors claimed to have found anomalies. Numerous construction initiatives were never finished.

It was “perhaps the biggest corruption operation the country has ever experienced,” according to prosecutor Diego Luciani.

Additionally, he said that the alleged kickback system cost the Argentine government at least $1 billion (£818 million).

Fernández has vigorously refuted all of the accusations.

Argentina has been deeply divided over the case, with Fernández supporters loving and loathing the populist politician in equal measure. Outside of her Buenos Aires apartment, supporters demonstrated their support for the vice president by blocking the street. They have occasionally fought against Fernández’s detractors who label her a “thief.”

On September 1, one of these gatherings was where Fernández was the subject of an attempted murder.

Ms. Fernández won’t be going to jail right away despite the fact that she was found guilty and given a prison term.

She has some immunity as an elected senator, which enables her to continue serving in her position while she appeals the decision all the way to the Supreme Court.

She is anticipated to be eligible to compete for the senate or maybe the presidency in the 2023 election as the appeals process could take years.

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