Argentina’s vice president given 6-year prison sentence on graft charges

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - DECEMBER 06: A federal court in Argentina sentenced Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to six years in prison Tuesday and banned her from holding public office. Fernandez de Kirchner was found guilty by a three-judge panel of committing a $1 billion fraud over the awarding of public works contracts in the southern province of Santa Cruz during her tenure as president.

 Judge Jorge Gorini delivered the verdict via videoconference in the presence of two other judges, Rodrigo Gimenez Uriburu and Andres Basso.

 Gorini said an "extraordinarily fraudulent maneuver took place" in reference to the sentencing, which took three years to reach.

 The judges will have 40 business days to make their full arguments known to the public, according to local news agency Noticias Argentinas. Following her sentencing, Fernandez de Kirchner took to YouTube in a live broadcast on her channel, condemning the charges against her. "This is neither lawfare nor judicial party. This is a parallel state and judicial mafia," she said. "The real sentence is not prison. It is perpetual disqualification from holding public office," she added, alleging that the sentence related to the economic model of development she oversaw as president, which she recognized as citizens’ rights in the country. Fernandez de Kirchner also referenced an assassination attempt against her in September this year, insisting that her opponents in the country either want her in "jail or dead." Argentine President Alberto Fernandez condemned the sentence against Fernandez de Kirchner in a number of tweets. "Today, in Argentina, an innocent person has been condemned. Someone whom the powers that be (in the country) tried to stigmatize via the media and (who was) persecuted by complacent judges who ride around in private jets and (stay in) luxury mansions on weekends," wrote Fernandez. (Footage by Mariano Gabriel Sanchez/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)