The man accused of trying to shoot Argentina Vice President Cristina Kirchner last week planned the attack with his girlfriend, according to a judge’s preliminary charge, local media reported on Wednesday.
The suspected gunman of the close-range attack, Fernando Sabag Montiel, and his girlfriend Brenda Uliarte, both in custody, are charged with attempting to assassinate Kirchner “with planning and prior consent,” Judge Maria Eugenia Capuchetti said in an indictment that died both, according to the Telam news agency.
Kirchner, the 69-year-old former president and current vice president, survived the assassination as she mingled with supporters outside her home last Thursday night when a gun wielded by Sabag Montiel failed to fire.
He was arrested on the spot and video of the incident quickly went viral.
The allegations, which were released to the media on Wednesday, are preliminary and subject to modification, but they mark the first official charge that the attack on Kirchner was premeditated.
Kirchner enjoys a loyal following among supporters of the centre-left Peronist movement, inherited from former President Juan Peron. But she is also unpopular with the political opposition.
Tens of thousands of Argentines took to the streets after the attempted shooting.
– Girlfriend near crime scene –
Sabag Montiel, 35, a Brazilian who has lived in Argentina since he was a teenager, has not told investigators what his motivations were.
Ulliarte, his 23-year-old companion, was arrested at a Buenos Aires train station on Sunday evening.
After the attack, she said in television interviews that she had not seen Sabag Montiel for two days, but analysis of video surveillance images has since shown that they were both at the scene of the attack that evening, according to court sources cited by the media.
The indictment, seen Wednesday night, reportedly states that Uliarte “was present near where they arrived together and were found to be in possession of the confiscated firearm with its ammunition from an earlier date at the latest.” August 5th.”
Kirchner, who is currently on trial on corruption charges and accused of accepting bribes in her Patagonian stronghold, was greeting supporters outside her home in Buenos Aires when Sabag Montiel, who was standing amid the crowd, aimed a gun directly at her head.
For reasons that are still unknown, the weapon did not fire despite loading and pulling the trigger.
Messages of support for Kirchner and condemnation of the attack have come in from the Pope, the UN, the United States and Latin American leaders.
Sabag Montiel was previously arrested on March 17, 2021 for carrying a knife, but the case was later dropped.
In photos on his Instagram account, he seems to have numerous tattoos. Some – like a black sun and another resembling the Iron Cross – are associated with Nazi symbolism, although no signs of radicalization have been proven so far.
