The mother of former Argentine first lady Fabiola Yañez, Miriam Verdugodeclared this Thursday before the prosecution that he was an eyewitness to the physical violence by the then president, Alberto Fernandez (2019-2023) about his daughter while she was pregnant.
“I saw how Alberto pushed my daughter when she was pregnant,” Verdugo told prosecutor Ramiro González, who is investigating the case opened after Yáñez filed a complaint on August 6 for alleged gender violence against the former president, according to local media with access to the investigation.
Verdugo came from Madrid, where his daughter and two-year-old grandson Francisco, son of Yáñez and Fernández, live, to give his testimony in person before the Comodoro Py court in Buenos Aires.
According to his statement, Fernandez “shaken and pushed” Yáñez, knocking her to the ground, when she was eight months pregnant, in April 2022. The woman said it was the only time she witnessed an attack by the former president.
On the other hand, Verdugo said he was present when, in 2016, Fernández forced his then partner to have an abortion.
This testimony coincides with the statement of Tamara Yañez, who confirmed last Monday the testimonies of her sister Fabiola before the prosecutor according to which Fernandez allegedly forced her to have an abortion in 2016.
This is the sixth personal statement from Fernández’s former mother-in-law, after the testimony of journalist Alicia Barrios, who knows the daily life of the presidential couple well; Fernández’s former secretary, María Cantero; beautician María Florencia Aguirre; Daniel Rodríguez, former administrator of the Quinta de Olivos (presidential residence); and former presidential doctor Federico Saavedra.
For her part, the former first lady spoke virtually from the Argentine consulate in Madrid.
Still to appear before the prosecutor is Yañez’s friend, Sofía Pacchi, who was supposed to appear last week but was unable to do so due to health problems.
Yañez, 43, decided to file a complaint against the former president, 65, after the Argentine justice system – as part of an investigation into alleged influence peddling – found conversations and images that would indicate a possible case of gender-based violence on the phone of the former presidential secretary.
The prosecutor charged Fernandez with the alleged crime of serious injuries doubly aggravated by the relationship and occurring in a context of gender-based violence and coercive threats to the detriment of his ex-partner.
Federal Judge Julián Ercolini prohibited Fernández from leaving Argentina and ordered him not to approach or contact the plaintiff in any way.
