Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina ex-president, goes on trial

The corruption trial of Argentina's former president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, has begun in Buenos Aires.

Ms Fernández is accused of accepting bribes from construction firms in exchange for lucrative government contracts while in power.

This trial, the first of 12 cases Ms Fernández faces, comes days after she announced she was running for office.

Posting on Twitter ahead of the trial, she dismissed the accusations as a politically motivated "smokescreen".

"Trials must seek the truth," she wrote. "But it doesn't look like this is going to happen here."

Ms Fernández, a left-leaning populist, is standing for the vice-presidency in the country's national election on 27 October.

Her attendance at the opening hearing at the city's Comodoro Py court was mandatory, but she will be able to send a representative to the follow-up hearings held every week.

Demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse in Buenos Aires on Tuesday to shout slogans in support of the former president.