Former Argentine President Alberto Fernández was formally indicted for gender-based violence against his ex-partner Fabiola Yañez. The case could now forward to trial if federal judge Julián Ercolini and prosecutor Ramiro González determine that the investigation is complete.

The Comodoro Py Federal Chamber issued its ruling Tuesday confirming the charges of minor and serious battery, aggravated by gender-based violence and coercive threats. It was signed by two of the chamber’s judges, Martín Irurzun and Eduardo Farah, while a third, Roberto Boico, said there was not enough evidence to indict Fernández or drop the charges.

The court’s decision backs Ercolini’s indictment, in which the judge stated that Fernández hit former First Lady Yañez at least twice, bruising her arm and eye. It also said that Fernández coerced her into not reporting him.

The scandal broke in August 2024 when leaked WhatsApp chats of Yañez telling Fernández’s former secretary about the beatings surfaced along with pictures of a bruised ex-first lady. Days after the leak, Yañez reported Fernández for domestic violence.

Fernández rejected Yañez’s accusations once again in an interview with Radio Splendid on Wednesday morning. “There are witnesses who say that Fabiola took pictures and said she would use them later. I am very certain of how false this whole thing is.”

The court’s decision also confirmed a AR$10 million (US$8,223 at the MEP rate) asset freeze against Fernández, and overruled his defense’s demands for the charges to be dropped.

The ruling said that “it is likely that the events happened in the same way the plaintiff described them.” It also backed Yañez’s claims that, while living with Fernández and their baby son at the Quinta de Olivos presidential residence, she had to move to the guest house inside the compound with the child to avoid Fernández.

Judge Irurzun justified his vote by saying that all signs showed that “the victim was in a notorious situation of power inequity, inside and outside the relationship, when compared to her aggressor.” 

Federal Chamber Judge Boico, on the other hand, questioned the evidence presented by the plaintiff. “It is not possible to determine the date and time the photographs and videos were taken,” he said, adding that the plaintiff had not provided all the necessary evidence to back the accusation.