Argentine ex-president Alberto Fernández has been formally indicted for aggravated bodily harm and violent threats against his ex-partner Fabiola Yañez. She testified on Tuesday after reporting him last week for domestic violence.

Federal Prosecutor Ramiro González made a series of requests to investigate Fernández, including testimonies, security camera footage, and medical records. In the indictment, González said that both charges were “aggravated” due to Fernández’s relationship with Yañez and that the context of the violence was gender-based.

Chats and pictures of Yañez with a black eye and bruising on her arm were leaked to the press and published last week, causing nationwide uproar. In her Tuesday testimony, Yañez painted a picture of herself as a lonely, isolated victim of psychological violence and regular infidelity during her fourteen-year relationship with Fernández. She also said she was the target of his controlling behavior and suicide threats, which she described as “psychological terrorism.”

Testifying from Madrid, Yañez said that in 2016 Fernández forced her to have an abortion. In 2021 while they were in the presidential residence, Fernández allegedly punched her in the eye, and the wound was treated by a doctor from the presidential staff. According to Yañez’s statement, that same year Fernández pushed her while she was in the late stages of her pregnancy.

Also according to Yañez, she talked about Fernández’s behavior with Ayelén Mazzina, who was gender minister at the time. Mazzina allegedly “did nothing” about the matter. Mazzina has since denied that she spoke with Yañez regarding the topic. Prosecutor González has ordered that a separate investigation be conducted on Mazzina’s involvement.

Fernández denied the accusations in a brief statement last week, as well as in two interviews he gave on Sunday and Monday. He said that Yañez’s black eye was the result of “an aesthetic treatment,” and that Javier Milei’s government was taking political advantage of the case.

González requested testimonies from several people, including: Yañez’s mother Miriam Yañez Verdugo, Daniel Rodríguez who is the former chief usher of the presidential residence, Fernández’s former secretary María Cantero, and journalist Alicia Barrios. The witness list also includes Sofía Pacchi, a friend of Yañez’s whom Fernández allegedly flirted with, as well as Federico Saavedra who is the doctor from the medical presidential unit who allegedly treated Yañez’s wounds.

The prosecutor also subpoenaed footage from the residence’s security cameras from the time Fernández was president, as well as Yañez’s medical records and a complete list of the residence’s staff. He also instructed that a general on-site inspection of the presidential residence should be conducted.