An Argentine prosecutor indicted former President Alberto Fernández on Friday for the crimes of harassment, causing injury, and gender-based violence against former First Lady Fabiola Yañez. The formal accusations come after Yañez reported him on Tuesday for domestic violence.

The indictment made Fernández Argentina’s first president to be formally accused of gender-based violence. Chats and pictures of Yañez with a black eye and bruising on her arm were leaked to the press and published on Thursday night, causing nationwide uproar. The conversation appears to show Yañez sending photos of her injuries to Fernández and accusing him of beating her for three days straight. The former president’s chat responses do not deny her accusations. The Herald is not publishing the material for privacy reasons.

Fernández said in a public statement on Tuesday that the allegations were “100% false.”

Federal Judge Julián Ercolini, head of the Criminal and Correctional Court 10, will lead the investigation. The designated prosecutor is Ramiro González although Carlos Rívolo, who will be in charge until Monday, may continue to work with González.

On Thursday morning, the General Directorate of Accompaniment, Guidance and Protection of Victims interviewed Yañez via video call, the General Prosecutor’s Office reported. Yañez is currently living in Madrid with her and Fernández’s two-year-old son, Francisco.

Both Fernández and Yañez have dropped lawyer Juan Pablo Fioribello, who previously represented them as a couple. Criminal and family law specialist Silvina Carreira will represent Fernández. Mariana Gallego will represent Yañez.

The indictment against Fernández formally notifies him of the basic details of the accusations against him. It does not mean the case will go to trial.

The materials emerged as part of a separate case launched earlier this year, also handled by Ercolini, investigating accusations that Fernández improperly handled state insurance contacts during his presidency. As part of that case, investigators examined the contents of a cellphone belonging to Fernández’s secretary, whose husband is an insurance broker. The material that led to the current case was found in chats between Yañez and the secretary.

The accusations of gender-based violence were first published by the Argentine media last weekend. There is no evidence that Yañez consented to the publication of the material.

Local media reported that Ercolini sent the case to the Supreme Court Gender Based Violence Office but it was returned to his docket in late June. He offered to take Yañez’s statement at the time, but she reportedly declined. On Tuesday, after news of the alleged violence broke, she changed her mind and reported him.

In a ruling signed on Tuesday afternoon, Ercolini placed a restraining order on Fernández, banning him from leaving Argentina and from getting within 500 meters of Yañez and her home in Madrid.