Ex-Argentine President Alberto Fernández charged with abusing former First Lady Fabiola Yáñez

Argentine prosecutors charged former President Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) with the alleged crime of serious injuries and coercive threats to former First Lady Fabiola Yáñez, this Wednesday.

The accusation was filed by Ramiro González, the federal prosecutor charge of the investigation. González opened the case against Fernández after reports about alleged sexual violence.

Prosecutors began their investigation by collecting evidence, some of which is listed in the complaint filed with the court. Law enforcement officials reportedly collected photographs and recorded conversations that were extracted from an iPhone belonging to Fernández's secretary that were part of a separate investigation involving purported corruption related to public procurement contracts.

In light of the prosecutors’ charges, the former president is accused of engaging in acts of aggravated violence against the former partner who gave oral testimony to government lawyers on Tuesday from Madrid where she resides.

Prosecutors have so far said that Yáñez “suffered a relationship characterized by harassment, psychological harassment, and physical attacks in a context of gender and domestic violence,” dynamic driven by “an asymmetric and unequal relationship of power that developed throughout time, which increased exponentially after Fernández was elected president” in 2019.

Under “this structure of asymmetry,” prosecutors allege that Fernández “carried out different criminal acts,” among them, forcing Yáñez to have an abortion in 2016, “through a plan that constituted destitution, denial of speech, harassment.”

Prosecutors suggested that Yáñez was “coerced” to make that decision, “causing irreparable psychological damage.”

The charges also allege that on August 12, 2021, Fernández grabbed Yáñez's arm “causing visible injuries” in a photo Yáñez sent to the Peronist politician’s secretary, María Cantero.

Prosecutors also indicated that in July 2021 Fernández struck Yáñez in the eye while the two were in bed together, and that on August 11, 2021 “shook Yáñez from her arms, causing an injury to one of her extremities, and held her neck with his hands.”

The document also states that the following day, on August 12, 2021, Fernández kicked Yáñez in the stomach, “knowing that the named woman could be pregnant at that time.”

According to prosecutors, during the first half of 2023, “Alberto Fernández regularly hit Yáñez with his open hand,” prompting the female victim to relocate to their residential guest house.

Government lawyers also revealed that their criminal probe into the former Argentine president may cross South American borders into a transnational investigation..

According to prosecutorial allegations, during a trip in Foz de Iguazú (Brazil), Yáñez reported the acts of violence to Ayelén Mazzina, the country’s Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity. In a desperate plea for help, Yáñez reportedly showed the Brazilian government official photos of the alleged abuse and discussed the possibility of leaving her residence and relocating elsewhere.

Prosecutors are apparently launching a separate investigation into the transnational events that may have occurred in Brazil.

Yáñez reportedly received a call from the ex-president’s then lawyer, Juan Pablo Fioribello, who allegedly urged the woman not to report the former president.

Prosecutors alleged that Yáñez also “reported having received various types of threats through calls and text messages, both from Alberto Fernández and from third parties in recent weeks.”