This Monday, an Argentine federal prosecutor requested that the ongoing case against three defendants for the attempted assassination of Vice President Cristina Kirchner on September 1 be elevated to oral trial. If Judge Maria Eugenia Capuchetti accepts the request, this would mean the closure of the investigation stage, despite the rejection of the vice president, who demands that the possible participation of the intellectual authors and financiers of the attack be investigated.
Prosecutor Carlos Rvolo qualified the case as “double homicide aggravated by premeditation and by the premeditated concurrence of two or more persons, aggravated by the use of a firearm, in degree of attempt.” The accused, who are in preventive custody, are Fernando Sabag Montiel, 35 years old, who pointed a gun inches away from Kirchner’s face without shooting, and his girlfriend Brenda Uliarte, 23 years old, accused as “co-authors.” Nicolás Carrizo, 27, is charged as a “necessary participant.” Carrizo was the couple’s employer in their sugar-flake peddling business.
In a statement issued on Monday, the prosecutor stated that the conduct of the three defendants was “premeditated” and that they planned “a scheme” to assassinate the vice president. According to the prosecutor, no links were found between the defendants and any organization or person that could suggest the possibility that they were involved in the attack. In addition, no relevant elements were found to indicate the collaboration of third parties with money to carry out the attack.
The incident took place on September 1, 2022, in front of Kirchner’s home, when Sabag Montiel, armed with a pistol, mingled among a group of supporters, approached her, and pulled the trigger. At the time, a court was trying the former president for a corruption case, for which she was later sentenced to six years in prison and political disqualification, charges she has appealed.
Kirchner rejected Rvolo’s ruling in a letter published on her social networks. In it, he claimed that the prosecutor omitted to consider lines of investigation that point to people beyond Uliarte, Sabag Montiel, and Carrizo. He alleged that the investigation avoided knowing the truth, with witnesses having their phones erased and evidence destroyed without investigating the causes and motivations. Kirchner claimed that the investigation tried to avoid finding the possible participation of third parties, financiers, and instigators.
The vice president affirmed that there will be no justice for her, neither as a defendant nor as a victim. She expressed that they want her “imprisoned or dead” and announced that she will not run for the general elections in October, considering herself banned by the justice system.