Lawyers for former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner added a new economic audit to her pending petition before the UN Human Rights Committee this week, part of a broader effort to overturn her corruption conviction and lifetime ban from public office before Argentina's 2027 elections.
The audit, commissioned by Kirchner's own defense team rather than a court, was prepared by Brazilian economist Antonio Correa de Lacerda. It examined spending data from Argentina's National Roads Directorate and found that companies tied to Lazaro Baez's Grupo Austral — the contractor at the center of the "Vialidad" case that led to Kirchner's conviction — received $18.66 million, or just 0.85% of more than $2 billion disbursed through the funding line in question. The fifteen largest construction firms, the audit found, accounted for 75% of those resources.
The filing argues Argentina violated eight provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, citing Article 14.5, on the right to appellate review, and Article 14.7, noting that 49 of the 51 public works contracts at issue in the case had previously been dismissed or shelved by other proceedings.
"The sentence was absolutely unjust and an innocent person was convicted," Kirchner's lawyer, Carlos Beraldi, said. The defense argues the case was designed to end Kirchner's electoral eligibility rather than punish genuine wrongdoing. Prosecutors and the courts involved in the original case have not commented on the new filing.
Kirchner, twice Argentina's president and later vice president, was convicted in the Vialidad case and barred from holding office; polling has suggested she remains one of the opposition's most consequential figures for 2027 despite the ban. A UN committee finding in her favor would carry no binding legal force in Argentina, but her defense is treating the audit as a lever — both to keep her legal fight in public view and to build an international record ahead of the midterm campaign.