Argentina: attack targeting Kirchner was “for the good of society”, assailant claims at trial
The failed 2022 assassination attempt on the then Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner was “an act of justice”, for “the good of society”, targeting a “corrupt person”, accused No. 1 proclaimed on Wednesday on the first day of the trial, assuming with astonishing calm an act that could have led to “a civil war”.
It was “an act of justice and not an act in which I tried to gain financial profit”, affirmed Fernando Sabag Montiel, rejecting the hypothesis of a vast conspiracy, several times suggested by the Kirchner camp, and according to which it was mandated or financed.
At the same time relaxed, talkative, and collaborating in detail with the court, he spoke directly of a “personal motivation” for the attack, “an ethical connotation (…) having to do more with the general interest than with something else”. Ms. Kirchner “is corrupt, who steals and harms society,” he said.
However, he denied a strictly speaking “political” motive. “More than anything, I am apolitical, and my reasons for the attack are not a position that would be the antipodes of Kirchnerism (…) it was a personal end and not for the benefit of any political sector,” he said.
Later, responding to a question, he even clarified that he had, during discussions with friends, affirmed that the ultraliberal Javier Milei, then in full political ascension until his conquest of the presidency in December 2023, “did not please him not a lot”
Sabag Montiel, 37, an occasional VTC driver, is the main one of three accused for the attack on September 1, 2022 against the former head of state (from 2007 to 2015) and then vice-president.
– “I wanted to kill Cristina” –
Mingling one evening with a small crowd of sympathizers in front of Ms. Kirchner’s home in Buenos Aires, he pointed a pistol “less than a meter” from her head. By some miracle, the loaded gun was not engaged, and the shot did not go off. He was subdued on the spot.
The attack, the most serious act of political violence since the return of democracy 40 years ago, traumatized Argentina.
The next day, emotional demonstrations in support of Ms. Kirchner – including a monster in Buenos Aires – brought together tens of thousands of people in several cities.
“We have just experienced a miracle,” historian Sergio Wischnevsky mused, convinced that if the shot had killed, the country “would have entered a spiral of violence” which would have led it “to hell.”
In court, Sabag Montiel appeared to want to take sole responsibility for the act and dissociate his co-defendants, his ex-girlfriend Brenda Uliarte, 25 years old, judged as co-perpetrator, and a friend, Nicolas Carrizo 29 years old, accomplice. The prosecution, relying on email exchanges, identified planning between them.
For Sabag Montiel, Carrizo was not aware “of what I was going to do”. And Uliarte had a lesser degree of “commitment”. “I wanted to kill Cristina, and she wanted her to die”, to be a “spectator”. The young woman, on the scene that same evening, was not arrested until three days later.
– But “better” without civil war –
One of the questions hovering over the attack is the degree of planning, its scale: a simple trio of hateful losers, or a darker scheme as Ms. Kirchner suspects?
She had pointed out private financing “identified”, according to her, to the government of her liberal successor Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).
She also tried, in vain, to have the investigating judge recused, who in the end did not retain “objective elements” suggesting a political lead. Like strangely premonitory remarks attributed to a right-wing deputy, or a small ultra-right group, “Revolucion Federal”, which Uliarte had approached very briefly.
Sabag Montiel, since his arrest, has always maintained that he “acted alone”. Expert reports have described a “narcissistic” personality, with “extravagant” speech. At the very least verbose, as shown in his 2.5 hour testimony, sometimes bordering on confusion.
“I would feel more repentant if it had succeeded,” he declared, probing his remorse. While recognizing that the attack could have led to “a civil war”. But that “sometimes it’s better that things don’t happen…”
The trial was adjourned until July 3. With one hearing day scheduled per week, it is expected to last between six months and a year, with more than 270 witnesses expected: investigators, security agents, friends of the accused, and Ms. Kirchner herself, a priori not for weeks.
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