Former Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

A judge in Argentina says he is seeking the arrest of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner over accusations she took part in a political cover-up.

Ms Fernández, who governed for eight years from December 2007, was recently elected a senator and as such enjoys parliamentary immunity.

For her to be arrested, the Senate would have to lift that immunity with a two-thirds majority vote.

She called the move a “nonsense… [which] violates the rule of law”.

Senators said they would consider the judge’s request once they received it.

Federal judge Claudio Bonadio, who is seeking the arrest, alleges Ms Fernández was took part in “an orchestrated criminal plan” to cover up the alleged involvement of senior Iranian officials in a 1994 bomb attack against a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires.

Judge Bonadio also ordered that Héctor Timerman, who was foreign minister under Ms Fernández, be placed under house arrest in connection with the same case.

Two more close allies of Ms Fernández were arrested on Thursday morning. They are Carlos Zannadi, a senior legal official in the Fernández administration, and political activist Luis D’Elía.

On Thursday, Ms Fernández called a news conference to once again deny the allegations against her and to denounce the judge’s investigation.

“It is a case fabricated on facts that never existed. What is happening is a nonsense, a true excess,” she said.

She said, “it not only violates the rule of law, but seeks to inflict personal and political harm on opponents.”

(BBC)