Trial begins in Argentina over gun attack on former President Cristina Kirchner | World News

An Argentine court began hearings on Wednesday against three people accused of attempting to assassinate former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in September 2022. At the time, she was attacked with a loaded pistol that did not fire.

The attack on the country’s most prominent politician of the past two decades shocked the South American country and drew condemnation from political leaders around the world, including Argentina’s Pope Francis and the White House.

At the centre of the trial is Fernando Sabag Montiel, a Brazilian citizen living in Argentina who pointed a gun at Kirchner’s head in the middle of a crowd in front of her house in Buenos Aires.

Kirchner was vice president at the time.

Brenda Uliarte, Montiel’s ex-girlfriend, is also under investigation. The two face up to 15 years in prison for attempted premeditated murder. Another man, Nicolas Carrizo, was also linked to the attempted murder and is on trial.

Kirchner, president between 2007 and 2015, is a polarizing figure in Argentina. She has captivated the rock-star masses there, but has also attracted many critics for her brand of left-wing populism.

She belongs to the more militant left wing of the powerful Peronist movement.

In December 2022, Kirchner himself was sentenced to six years in prison and barred from holding public office in a high-profile corruption trial.

She has appealed the verdict, but the case will likely drag on through higher courts for years to come.

The oral trial on the shooting is expected to last up to a year. More than 200 witnesses are expected to be called. The suspects remain in custody.

The defense argued that the gun was not capable of firing. Kirchner, on the other hand, criticized the investigations and the courts and claimed that it was a cover-up of an alleged larger conspiracy, including by her political opponents.