BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri has pushed out the chief prosecutor, argued for federal judges to be fired and is planning judicial reforms as charges pile up against his predecessor’s government.

Macri’s supporters have cheered what they see as an overdue effort to reform Argentina’s sluggish judiciary. But his opponents smell a witch hunt against former leader Cristina Fernandez and fear the government is trying to use the courts to eliminate opponents.

On Thursday, a federal judge dealt the hardest blow yet to Fernandez, asking for Congress to remove her immunity as a senator so she could be arrested.

The judge indicted Fernandez for treason and allegedly covering up Iran’s role in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre that killed 85 people.

That followed the arrest of two key officials from Fernandez’s administration days after Macri’s coalition swept mid-term elections on Oct.22.

Former planning minister Julio De Vido was detained on Oct.25, followed by former vice president Amado Boudou on Nov. 3. Both deny wrongdoing.

Fernandez has denied personal wrongdoing and accuses Macri of using the judiciary for political persecution.

“I’d like to tell President Macri that the campaign ended in October, although some people have not noticed,” Fernandez told a news conference on Thursday.

She was also indicted a year ago on charges she ran a corruption scheme with her public works secretary, who was caught trying to stash millions of dollars in a convent. Fernandez has admitted there may have been corruption in her government but personally denies wrongdoing.

Macri, meanwhile, has pledged to strengthen the judiciary and says he will make it more independent. He plans changes to the federal prosecutors’ office and a reform of the Judicial Council, which appoints judges.

The reforms would require congressional approval and a source from Macri’s coalition said they would be presented next year, after higher profile tax and labour reforms are debated.

Unions and allies of Fernandez oppose many of the center-right Macri’s economic measures. So do many judges, who are historically staunch defenders of workers’ rights.

“They are using the Council to tame judges who dare to make rulings that reverse government decisions,” said Rodolfo Tailhade, a Judicial Council member and a lawmaker allied with Fernandez.

Reuters