Cristina Kirchner’s lawyers are preparing to file legal presentations in international courts to demand that her six-year prison sentence and lifelong ban from running for public office be annulled.

Attorneys Carlos Beraldi and Gregorio Dalbón confirmed they will take the case to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee.

Dalbón had already filed a preliminary presentation at the ICC a day before Kirchner’s conviction was confirmed last week, denouncing that his client was suffering “political, media, and legal persecution.”

“There are only two potential outcomes: either the sentence is annulled, or [Kirchner] is acquitted,” Dalbón said during an interview with Herald sister channel C5N. “I want to tell all my countrymen to stay calm, that international human rights organizations will get this sentence to be annulled.”

The legal path on the international stage

A case can be filed before the IACHR denouncing that a member state of the Organization of American States has violated a person’s human rights. All local judicial steps need to have been exhausted before the commission analyzes one of these cases.

If the IACHR considers the state has violated human rights, they can make a series of recommendations, such as desisting the action or offering the victim reparation. They could also negotiate an “amicable solution” between the parties.

If none of these options are followed, the case can be sent to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights requesting the state be declared responsible for that violation.

Only IACHR member states can file a case before the court. The IACHR and the court can only rule over the potential violation of human rights protected by international treaties. This means that they cannot comment on other rights of the victim that may have potentially been abused.

In a recent post on X, Dalbón explained that a change made in 2020 to the Argentine Federal Criminal Process Code states that a conviction can be revised if the Inter-American Court of Human Rights or other human rights organizations write a report or ruling on it.

If they find that Kirchner’s rights were violated, the IACHR could take the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for a judicial ruling. According to Dalbón, this ruling would be binding for Argentina. This means that although the Supreme Court’s decision cannot be changed, the sentence would have to be revised by Argentine courts and could potentially be annulled.

“There are no doubts that due process was violated and that all constitutional guarantees for the defense during trial were violated. International organizations will notice this,” he said.

A march for Cristina

Unions, political parties, social organizations, human rights movements, and supporters that arrived in Buenos Aires from across Argentina will march on Wednesday to back Kirchner and condemn her conviction.

Although originally scheduled to go to the Comodoro Py Federal Courts, where Kirchner was expected to surrender to justice on Wednesday, the place for the demonstration was changed to Plaza de Mayo at 2 p.m., right outside the Casa Rosada, after Kirchner was granted house arrest on Tuesday afternoon.

Each sector set up a different corner of downtown Buenos Aires to gather and march towards Plaza de Mayo. Streets in the area will be blocked, so it is recommended not to transit with a car around San José and Humberto 1° — where Kirchner lives — and south of the Obelisk, through 9 de Julio, San Juan, Independencia, Belgrano, Avenida de Mayo, and Corrientes avenues.