Free Cristina
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, twice president of Argentina, has been imprisoned since June 2025 and banned for life from running for office, without a single piece of evidence.
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Free Cristina (in Spanish, #CristinaLibre) is the citizen campaign demanding the release of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015 and vice-president from 2019 to 2023, who is serving a six-year sentence under house arrest and a lifetime ban from public office after a trial without evidence.
The case, in short
- December 2022: a federal court convicts her of "fraudulent administration" over road works in Santa Cruz province, and acquits her of criminal association.
- June 2025: the Supreme Court, with only three members, upholds the ruling. She is placed under house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor at San José 1111, Buenos Aires.
- Since then: supporters gather every night outside her balcony. Her defence has taken the case to the UN Human Rights Committee.
Why we call it lawfare
Budget laws approved by Congress, with votes from the opposition, funded every one of the works. No witness said she gave an illegal order. Judges in the case had visited former president Mauricio Macri at his official residence, and a judge and the prosecutor played football at his private estate. The lifetime ban removes from the ballot the main opposition leader in the country.
Leaders around the world
Brazil’s president Lula da Silva was the first head of state to visit her in custody. Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzón, among many others, denounced the conviction. Read their statements (in Spanish).
Preguntas frecuentes
Why is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in prison?
On 10 June 2025 Argentina’s Supreme Court, sitting with only three justices, upheld a six-year sentence and a lifetime ban from public office in the so-called "Vialidad" road-works case. She has been under house arrest in Buenos Aires since June 2025.
Is there evidence against her?
No direct evidence links her to any crime. The 51 public works at issue were approved in budget laws passed by Congress, and their execution was the responsibility of the Cabinet Chief and the National Roads Directorate. She was acquitted of the most serious charge, criminal association.
What is lawfare?
The use of the courts, together with media and economic groups, to persecute political leaders and remove them from elections. Brazil’s Lula da Silva was jailed in 2018 and his convictions were later annulled; he was elected president again in 2022.
How can I support Free Cristina?
Share this page and the hashtags #FreeCristina and #CristinaLibre, follow the campaign on social media and, if you read Spanish, sign the petition.
