Prosecutor Ramiro González requested that Alberto Fernández be summoned for interrogation in the case against the former Argentine president for gender-based violence and threats against the former first lady, Fabiola Yáñez.

According to González, the prosecutor’s office proved that Fernández hit Yáñez in the eye, caused a bruise on her arm, and inflicted “grave psychological harm” on her. Fernández also threatened Yáñez, saying he would rescind child support and go public with personal details if she filed a criminal complaint against him.

Allegations that Fernández had been abusive to Yañez first surfaced through press reports at the beginning of August. Yáñez reported Fernández for gender-based violence days later. Photos of Yánez’s bruises were subsequently leaked and published by the press on August 8, causing nationwide uproar. Fernández was served later that day, before being formally indicted for aggravated bodily harm and violent threats on August 11. If found guilty, he could go to jail for 18 years.

In his 159-page request, which the Herald had access to, González said that Fernández constantly slapped Yáñez in the face, belittled her, publicly disrespected her, pressured her to have an abortion, and displayed violent attitudes while taking advantage of his position as president. For example, González quoted a witness who said that Fernández kicked Yáñez out of the presidential residence.

In her testimony, Yáñez said that Fernández constantly cheated on her, which undermined her self-esteem. She described how after confronting Fernández over his alleged infidelities, the then-president started “shouting like crazy,” told her that it was a lie, and grabbed her by the neck and shook her. 

“[He told me] I was crazy, but he was the one who grabbed me by the neck,” she said.

González concluded that the former president caused Yáñez’s black eye, of which a picture was widely circulated in Argentine media. Fernández claimed was caused by a “beauty treatment.”

Florencia Aguirre, who worked as Yáñez’s beautician, said that she once found Yáñez with a black eye. When Aguirre asked her about it, the then-first lady said, “It was Alberto, but without meaning to.” Aguirre did not believe it. “Because of how the bruise looked, it did not seem unintentional”, said Aguirre. 

The head of the presidential medical unit, Walter Federico Saavedra, said he treated Yáñez’s bruised eye with a homeopathic remedy — an alternative medicine widely considered a pseudoscience — and an anticoagulant agent. Yáñez had also told him that she was hurt when she was in bed with Fernández but did not say whether it was him.

“The injury to Yáñez’s right eye was caused by the fact that Fernández hit her in the face when they were in bed in the presidential chalet of the Quinta de Olivos, which caused a traumatism in the eye area,” González wrote.

“It has been proven that Fernández acted intentionally and achieved his purpose of injuring Yáñez.”