Argentina’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the 6-year prison sentence on corruption charges for former President Cristina Fernández.

The court ruling disqualifies the leader of South American country’s opposition movement, known as Peronism, from holding public office.

It left Fernández, one of Argentina’s most important political figures of the past two decades, at the brink of an arrest by authorities.

Fernández governed for eight years after succeeding her husband in 2007.

Under her watch, Argentina became notorious for its unbridled state spending and massive budget deficits.

She was found guilty by a federal court in 2022 of having committed a millionaire fraud during her presidency through irregular allocation of state funds to a businessman close to her.

Fernández had asked the court for a review of the prison sentence in March, which three judges of the high court rejected.

Tuesday’s court decision means that Fernández will not be able to compete in September for a seat in the legislature in the country’s capital, as she had announced.

As the ruling was announced, supporters of Fernández and her political movement blocked main roadways into Buenos Aires.

She said the day before that even if she is in jail, Peronism will live on in resistance to President Javier Milei, whose austerity measures stand in stark contrast to the policies implemented during her leadership.

“We will put our bodies on the line because we care, unlike the mafioso right. We Peronists stay here because for us, our bodies matter — we are valuable,” she said to her supporters.

Fernandez’s defense is expected to request she serve her sentence in house arrest, given she is over 70 years old.

She has questioned the impartiality of the judges and claimed that much of the evidence was gathered outside legal deadlines and that her legal defense didn’t have access to it.

Fernández also faces a number of other upcoming trials on corruption charges.

AP Video by Alejandro Pettigrosso