Fernando Sabag Montiel, the man convicted of a failed attempt to assassinate former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner more than three years ago, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Combined with an earlier conviction for possession and distribution of material involving child abuse, his total sentence amounts to some 14 years in prison.
His former girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, received a sentence of eight years from Federal Oral Court No. 6 for her role as a “necessary participant” in the attack.
Sabag Montiel, 38, was convicted of “attempted aggravated homicide involving the use of a firearm.”
He tried to murder the former president on September 1, 2022, when he pointed a loaded gun at her head as she greeted supporters outside her home in Buenos Aires City. Sabag Montiel pulled the trigger twice, but the weapon misfired.
He was immediately subdued by her supporters and handed over to police.
Throughout the trial, Sabag Montiel admitted his culpability. He said he had intended to kill Fernández de Kirchner, calling it “an act of justice” because, according to him, “she’s corrupt, she steals, and she harms society.”
Uliarte’s defence team argued that she was mentally unfit at the time of the attack.
The trial, presided over by Judges Sabrina Namer, Ignacio Fornari and Adrián Grunberg, began in June 2024 at the Comodoro Py federal courthouse in Retiro and featured testimony from 157 witnesses.
Sabag Montiel and Ularte were charged with attempted murder and other related offences, carrying potential sentences of up to 25 years in prison.
Prosecutor Gabriela Baigún requested a 19-year prison sentence for Sabag Montiel, as well as 14 years and 2 months for Uliarte.
The prosecution did not bring formal charges against the original third defendant, Nicolás Gabriel Carrizo, leading to his acquittal. “These three years are something I’ll never get back,” Carrizo said following that verdict.
Final remarks
In his final remarks before sentencing, Sabag Montiel made confused statements alleging political conspiracies, claiming that “the whole case was fabricated.”
"This case was fabricated, and everyone knows it. They planted a weapon, and Carrizo wants to change his defence lawyer when it was [another] who planted the weapon. It's a strategy that Cristina Kirchner has been using, just as she did with [late] prosecutor Alberto Nisman," Sabag Montiel said.
He also warned that if he were to “disappear” in prison, “it would not be something to take lightly.”
Uliarte declined to make a final statement to the court.
Fernández de Kirchner, who also served as Argentina’s vice-president from 2019 to 2023, is currently jailed under house arrest.
She was sentenced to six years in prison and a lifetime ban on holding public office for fraudulent administration in the awarding of public works contracts during her 2007-2015 Presidency.
Since her sentencing, Fernández de Kirchner has repeatedly claimed that her political opponents “want me imprisoned or dead.”
The murder attempt, captured on video, shocked the nation. Political analyst Facundo Cruz said that the assassination attempt on the left-leaning leader “revived dark memories” of times when political violence was used “to settle ideological disputes” in Argentina.
Referring to the killings of activists during the 1976–1983 dictatorship, he added that it showed “something thought to have been banished could still happen today.”
The failed attack triggered massive demonstrations of support for Fernández de Kirchner, as thousands of her supporters took to the streets.
The assassination attempt coincided with the start of her corruption trial, which later resulted in her conviction and subsequent house arrest.
– TIMES/AFP/NA/PERFIL
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