Argentine court sentences a former couple to years in prison over botched assassination of ex-VP

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A court in Argentina sentenced a man to 10 years in prison on Wednesday after finding him guilty of attempting to kill powerful former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner three years ago.

The court in Buenos Aires also sentenced the man’s accomplice to eight years in prison, capping a dramatic case that has convulsed and captivated the country since the botched assassination attempt on Sept. 1, 2022, when the main defendant, Fernando Sabag Montiel, squeezed through a crowd outside the ex-president’s home, thrust a loaded gun at her face and pulled the trigger.

The gun did not go off. Fernández, then Argentina’s vice president, was unharmed.

The bewildering episode provoked street protests from Fernández’s die-hard supporters as well as skepticism and conspiracy theories from her fervent critics.

Among Latin America’s best-known politicians with three decades at the forefront of Argentine politics and two terms as president (2007-2015), Fernández is a deeply polarizing figure whose brand of left-wing populism brought Argentina infamy for its runaway inflation and enormous fiscal deficits.

Convicted of corruption for allegedly steering public roadworks contracts to a friend’s company, Fernández, 72, was sentenced earlier this year to six years behind bars. Citing her advanced age and safety fears since the 2022 attack, a court allowed Fernández to serve her time under house arrest in Buenos Aires.

While banned from running for public office, she remains outspoken against her political nemesis, libertarian President Javier Milei. From her apartment, she still posts diatribes on social media, waves at supporters gathered below her balcony and receives high-profile visitors, such as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last July.

In the trial that concluded Wednesday, prosecutors aimed to prove that Sabag Montiel, an Argentine citizen born in Brazil, and his then-girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, planned the assassination attempt in advance.

The prosecution produced WhatsApp chats about the firearm and evidence that the former couple visited Fernández’s house before the attack to observe her routines and security.

At the time of the shooting, Fernández was standing trial for corruption and crowds rallied regularly outside her home in solidarity. Fernández rejects the corruption charges as politically motivated.

Fernández’s supporters managed to catch Sabag Montiel as he tried to flee the scene after firing the defective gun.

He confessed to the crime in court, describing his assassination attempt as a means to exact justice for Fernández’s alleged corruption. Uliarte, arrested days after the incident, denied any involvement.