Former Argentine First Lady Fabiola Yáñez testified for four hours before the courts of her country on Tuesday via telematics from Madrid in the case of her complaints against her ex-partner and former president Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) for alleged gender-based violence.

Yáñez entered the Argentine consulate in the Spanish capital at around 3:10 p.m. local time, dressed in white and wearing sunglasses, sitting in the back seat of a vehicle. She left more than four hours later, at 7:15 p.m., inside the same vehicle, covered and at high speed.

At the doors of the consulate, her lawyer, Mariana Gallego, said that for reasons of “confidentiality” she could not give details nor would she answer questions “because that is what justice is for,” but she did say that her client “was able to testify, she felt very supported by the press, by the people, and above all by the UFEM (Specialized Prosecution Unit for Violence against Women), the prosecutor’s office and the court that is intervening” in the case.

According to the lawyer, “now all that remains is to trust in justice and follow the procedural steps,” which will surely not mean that Yáñez will have to testify again. The former Argentine president denies all the accusations.

Hours before her statement, the former Argentine first lady stated in a written statement that former President Fernández forced her to have an abortion in 2016, according to local media reports on Monday, and asked the courts to be a plaintiff in the investigation opened for alleged injuries in the context of gender violence.

She claimed that Fernández had committed “reproductive violence” at the beginning of a relationship in which there were episodes of “harassment and violence” as well as “psychological harassment” that were “constant.” She also claimed that she suffered “serious injuries” that “left psychological damage to this day.”

The The couple had a son, Francisco, in April 2022, who currently resides in Madrid with her.

Yáñez decided to file the complaint on August 6 after the Argentine justice system, as part of an investigation into alleged influence peddling by the former president, found conversations and images on the cell phone of one of Fernández’s secretary that indicated the possible commission of the crime of “minor injuries in the context of gender violence” to his ex-partner.

The former first lady asked that the case be classified as an alleged crime of “serious” and not “minor” injuries, “aggravated by the relationship and by having been committed in a context of gender violence under abuse of power and authority, in real competition with coercive threats.”

Following the complaint, federal judge Julián Ercolini banned the Peronist politician from leaving Argentina and ordered him not to approach or contact Yáñez in any way, who said he was suffering “psychological terrorism” from Fernández.

Ercolini himself rejected the former president’s request to be present at Yáñez’s telematic statement, according to local media.

In this regard, the lawyer Susana Carreira, who represents Fernández, expressed her indignation at not being able to question the actress and journalist during the hearing and indicated that Yáñez’s statement “is not valid” and that she was not able to present questions for her client’s defense.

Early this Tuesday morning, Fernández denied the accusations in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País and said that he does not “have to tell the newspapers” but rather “prove it before the courts” and that he will disprove them in court.

“I keep saying the same thing,” said the former Argentine president, adding: “I am being accused of something I did not do. I did not hit Fabiola. I have never hit a woman.”