The corrupt former president brought in Rafael Valim to strengthen her legal strategy following the six-year prison sentence, the lifetime disqualification, and the seizure of $685 billion
The former president Cristina Kirchner has decided to escalate her challenge to the JusticeArgentine system by hiring Rafael Valim, a lawyer closely linked to the Brazilian dictator Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The goal of this addition is to design a legal strategy that allows questioning before international courts the ruling that holds her responsible for the looting of public funds in the so-called Vialidad case.
Lula Da Silva and Rafael Valim
Rafael Valim joins a team of legal advisors that already includes the participation of Spanish lawyer Javier Borrego, who has a background as a judge of the Supreme Court of his country and of the European Court of Human Rights.
Valim, for his part, holds the titles of doctor and master in Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) and has more than two decades of experience in Constitutional Law and human rights, areas from which he intends to challenge the validity of local rulings.
The conviction that motivates this international move consists of a sentence of six years in prison and permanent disqualification from holding public office, issued by the Federal Oral Court 2 (TOF 2) after finding her guilty of the crime of fraudulent administration to the detriment of the State.
Additionally, the Argentine Justice has upheld the obligation of the convicted to return the astronomical sum of $685 billion as confiscation for the damages caused by corruption.
Cristina Kirchner serving her sentence in San José 1111
Recently, the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti, declared inadmissible the claims filed by the former President and other convicted individuals —including Lázaro Báez and Nelson Periotti— who sought to oppose the update of the confiscation amount set in the case.
Faced with the closure of national avenues, the defense of the convicted is betting on the narrative of political persecution.
From the defense's circle, Valim has expressed being "firmly convinced that she suffered serious violations of fundamental human rights and is undergoing an unjust punishment".
Furthermore, the Brazilian lawyer, who is a co-author of the book "Lawfare: an introduction", announced that "in the coming days, we will officially announce in Buenos Aires the strategy we will adopt in this new international phase of the former president's case".
This international maneuver, financed and orchestrated by the same sectors that have sought to weaken the rule of law in the region, represents the last refuge of a political project that today is forced to account before the judicial courts.
