The Supreme Court gave former president and opposition leader Cristina Fernández de Kirchner five working days starting Tuesday to appear in court and be taken into custody after upholding a six-year conviction against her. That means she has until Wednesday, June 18.

The ruling, which rejected an appeal filed by her defense in the so-called “Vialidad” corruption case, also includes a lifelong ban on holding public office.

After the country’s top judicial authority made the decision on Tuesday, the court that convicted her in 2022 gave 24 hours for Security Minister Patricia Bullrich to assign a federal forces location to accommodate Kirchner and the eight other convicts in the case.

However, the top court’s ruling left the door open to a house arrest, which in Argentina can be requested when the detainee is over 70 years of age. Kirchner’s 72nd birthday was on February 19, 2025.

The letter said that, in order to choose the site of the arrest, it should be taken into account that Kirchner is 72 years old, a lawyer, and, fundamentally, that she would require “special security and custody conditions inherent to the fact of having been President and Vice-President of the Nation — in particular, given the episode that took place on September 1, 2022,” they added, referring to the assassination attempt against her.

On Tuesday, the three Supreme Court justices confirmed their unanimous verdict just after 5:00 p.m. Widespread protests erupted all over the country after the ruling was made public.

The ruling means Kirchner has exhausted her appeals, and her sentence can take effect. Last week, she announced her candidacy to be a local legislator in Buenos Aires province, but today’s definitive sentence bars her from running.

In the “Vialidad” case, she was convicted of funneling 51 public works contracts in Santa Cruz province to a company belonging to her friend Lázaro Báez, in a process deemed fraudulent by Argentina’s judiciary.

Before Kirchner, Carlos Menem was the only former Argentine president to be convicted under a democratic government. His arrest took place on June 7, 2001, in a case involving illegal weapon sales to Ecuador and Croatia, and was a turning point in Argentine judicial history.