Fernando Sabag Montiel, left, attends the sentencing of those on trial for alleged responsibility for the attempted assassination of former President and Vice President Cristina Fernandez in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Montiel, along with Brenda Uliarte and Nicolas Carrizo, is accused of planning and executing the 2022 attack, which Fernandez survived when the gun did not fire. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Nicolas Carrizo, left, attends the sentencing of those on trial for alleged responsibility for the attempted assassination of former President and Vice President Cristina Fernández in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Carrizo, along with Brenda Uliarte and Fernando Sabag Montiel, is accused of planning and executing the 2022 attack, which Fernandez survived when the gun did not fire. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Brenda Uliarte, center, attends the sentencing of those on trial for alleged responsibility for the attempted assassination of former President and Vice President Cristina Fernández in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Uliarte, along with Fernando Sabag Montiel and Nicolás Carrizo, is accused of planning and executing the 2022 attack, which Fernández survived when the gun did not fire. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Fernando Sabag Montiel, left, attends the sentencing of those on trial for alleged responsibility for the attempted assassination of former President and Vice President Cristina Fernandez in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Montiel, along with Brenda Uliarte and Nicolas Carrizo, is accused of planning and executing the 2022 attack, which Fernandez survived when the gun did not fire. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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Nicolas Carrizo, left, attends the sentencing of those on trial for alleged responsibility for the attempted assassination of former President and Vice President Cristina Fernández in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Carrizo, along with Brenda Uliarte and Fernando Sabag Montiel, is accused of planning and executing the 2022 attack, which Fernandez survived when the gun did not fire. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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Brenda Uliarte, center, attends the sentencing of those on trial for alleged responsibility for the attempted assassination of former President and Vice President Cristina Fernández in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Uliarte, along with Fernando Sabag Montiel and Nicolás Carrizo, is accused of planning and executing the 2022 attack, which Fernández survived when the gun did not fire. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A court in Argentina sentenced a man to 10 years in prison on Wednesday after finding him guilty of attempting to kill powerful former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner three years ago.
The court in Buenos Aires also sentenced the man's accomplice to eight years in prison, that since the on Sept. 1, 2022, when the main defendant, Fernando Sabag Montiel, squeezed through a crowd outside the ex-president's home, thrust a loaded gun at her face and pulled the trigger.
The gun did not go off. Fernández, then Argentina's vice president, was unharmed.
provoked street protests from Fernández's die-hard supporters as well as skepticism and conspiracy theories from her fervent critics.
Among Latin America’s best-known politicians with three decades at the forefront of Argentine politics and two terms as president (2007-2015), Fernández is a deeply polarizing figure whose brought Argentina infamy for its runaway inflation and .
Convicted of corruption for allegedly steering public roadworks contracts to a friend's company, Fernández, 72, was . Citing her advanced age and safety fears since the 2022 attack, a under house arrest in Buenos Aires.
While banned from running for public office, she remains outspoken against her political nemesis, . From her apartment, she still posts diatribes on social media, her balcony and receives high-profile visitors, such as Brazilian President .
In the trial that concluded Wednesday, prosecutors aimed to prove that Sabag Montiel, an Argentine citizen born in Brazil, and his then-girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, planned the assassination attempt in advance.
The prosecution produced WhatsApp chats about the firearm and evidence that the former couple visited Fernández's house before the attack to observe her routines and security.
At the time of the shooting, Fernández was standing trial for corruption and crowds rallied regularly outside her home in solidarity. Fernández rejects the corruption charges as politically motivated.
Fernández’s supporters managed to catch Sabag Montiel as he tried to flee the scene after firing the defective gun.
He confessed to the crime in court, describing his assassination attempt as a means to exact justice for Fernández’s alleged corruption. Uliarte, arrested days after the incident, denied any involvement.
