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| Prosecutor’s death not suicide, says Argentinian president | Prosecutor’s death not suicide, says Argentinian president |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The death of a prosecutor investigating the bombing of a Jewish community centre was not suicide, Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said on Thursdayyesterday, as more questions arose over the death of the man who had accused her of a cover-up in the nation’s worst terrorist attack. | The death of a prosecutor investigating the bombing of a Jewish community centre was not suicide, Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said on Thursdayyesterday, as more questions arose over the death of the man who had accused her of a cover-up in the nation’s worst terrorist attack. |
| Alberto Nisman, lead investigator into the 1994 attack on the Amia Jewish centre that killed 85 people, was found dead in his apartment late on Sunday, a 22-calibre pistol by his side. He had spent his last hours bent over his desk at his 13th-floor luxury apartment in Buenos Aires highlighting with yellow markers critical paragraphs of a lengthy accusation that threatened to demolish Fernández’s already beleaguered presidency. | Alberto Nisman, lead investigator into the 1994 attack on the Amia Jewish centre that killed 85 people, was found dead in his apartment late on Sunday, a 22-calibre pistol by his side. He had spent his last hours bent over his desk at his 13th-floor luxury apartment in Buenos Aires highlighting with yellow markers critical paragraphs of a lengthy accusation that threatened to demolish Fernández’s already beleaguered presidency. |
| Nisman was to appear before Congress on Monday to present evidence taken from over 900 CDs of wiretapped conversations between Iran and Buenos Aires that he claimed showed Fernández had been involved in a conspiracy to shield five Iranian officials from prosecution for their alleged part in the bombing. He had accused Kirchner of trying to derail his investigation. | Nisman was to appear before Congress on Monday to present evidence taken from over 900 CDs of wiretapped conversations between Iran and Buenos Aires that he claimed showed Fernández had been involved in a conspiracy to shield five Iranian officials from prosecution for their alleged part in the bombing. He had accused Kirchner of trying to derail his investigation. |
| Fernández defended herself on Thursday in a Facebook post and 2,800-word open letter published on her website, claiming that two key witnesses in Nisman’s case against her had been falsely presented to him as Argentinian state intelligence agents in order to smear her name. | Fernández defended herself on Thursday in a Facebook post and 2,800-word open letter published on her website, claiming that two key witnesses in Nisman’s case against her had been falsely presented to him as Argentinian state intelligence agents in order to smear her name. |
| “Nisman’s accusation not only collapses, but becomes a real political and legal scandal,” she wrote. “Nisman did not know that the men identified as intelligence agents were in fact not.” | “Nisman’s accusation not only collapses, but becomes a real political and legal scandal,” she wrote. “Nisman did not know that the men identified as intelligence agents were in fact not.” |
| Fernández said in the open letter that she no longer believed – as she had said she did earlier in the week – that Nisman’s death was suicide. | Fernández said in the open letter that she no longer believed – as she had said she did earlier in the week – that Nisman’s death was suicide. |
| “They used him while he was alive and then they needed him dead,” she wrote, adding that his death was “sad and terrible”. | “They used him while he was alive and then they needed him dead,” she wrote, adding that his death was “sad and terrible”. |
| Fernández did not say who killed him and no one has been arrested in the case, which has shocked Argentina. Social media networks are seething with conspiracy theories, some pointing at Kirchner and her government. | Fernández did not say who killed him and no one has been arrested in the case, which has shocked Argentina. Social media networks are seething with conspiracy theories, some pointing at Kirchner and her government. |
| Thousands took to the streets this week to protest against the slow pace of justice for the victims of the bombing and demanding answers to the questions around Nisman’s death. His ex-wife on Tuesday also said that she did not think he killed himself. | Thousands took to the streets this week to protest against the slow pace of justice for the victims of the bombing and demanding answers to the questions around Nisman’s death. His ex-wife on Tuesday also said that she did not think he killed himself. |
| The unsolved bombing that Nisman was investigating remains an open and festering wound in Argentina. It sent a giant plume of smoke billowing over the city as the packed Jewish community centre crumbled, killing 85 mainly Jewish victims within and horrendously injuring hundreds of others on the busy street outside and in neighbouring buildings. | The unsolved bombing that Nisman was investigating remains an open and festering wound in Argentina. It sent a giant plume of smoke billowing over the city as the packed Jewish community centre crumbled, killing 85 mainly Jewish victims within and horrendously injuring hundreds of others on the busy street outside and in neighbouring buildings. |
| The blast was a magnified replay of a similar bomb that demolished the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires only two years previous. That blast left 26 dead and also remains unsolved. | The blast was a magnified replay of a similar bomb that demolished the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires only two years previous. That blast left 26 dead and also remains unsolved. |
| As the lead investigative prosecutor, Nisman had identified five Iranian officials as allegedly masterminding the Amia bombing, which he believed was materially executed by Hezbollah. But international arrest warrants issued by Interpol in 2007 were effectively railroaded in 2013 when Fernández in a surprise move agreed to set up a binational “truth commission” with Iran to investigate. | As the lead investigative prosecutor, Nisman had identified five Iranian officials as allegedly masterminding the Amia bombing, which he believed was materially executed by Hezbollah. But international arrest warrants issued by Interpol in 2007 were effectively railroaded in 2013 when Fernández in a surprise move agreed to set up a binational “truth commission” with Iran to investigate. |
| “It was unbelievable,” says Waldo Wolff, vice-president of the Delegation of Argentine-Israelite Organizations (Daia), the largest Jewish association in Argentina and a plaintiff in the Amia case, who knew Nisman well. “They signed a pact with a country accused of the worst terrorist attack ever in Argentina.” | “It was unbelievable,” says Waldo Wolff, vice-president of the Delegation of Argentine-Israelite Organizations (Daia), the largest Jewish association in Argentina and a plaintiff in the Amia case, who knew Nisman well. “They signed a pact with a country accused of the worst terrorist attack ever in Argentina.” |
| The memorandum was met with howls of protest at home and was finally rendered ineffectual by a court sentence obtained by Daia that declared it unconstitutional. But for Nisman, the memorandum, and the rapprochement it represented between Fernández and Iran, remained a painful thorn in his side. | The memorandum was met with howls of protest at home and was finally rendered ineffectual by a court sentence obtained by Daia that declared it unconstitutional. But for Nisman, the memorandum, and the rapprochement it represented between Fernández and Iran, remained a painful thorn in his side. |
| Unknown to Nisman at the time, however, one of the many wiretaps in the Amia case, between one of the main accused, Moshen Rabbani in Iran, and an alleged Iranian agent in Buenos Aires, had recorded secret conversations between some of Fernández’s main accolytes and Rabbani in the two years leading up to the memorandum. | Unknown to Nisman at the time, however, one of the many wiretaps in the Amia case, between one of the main accused, Moshen Rabbani in Iran, and an alleged Iranian agent in Buenos Aires, had recorded secret conversations between some of Fernández’s main accolytes and Rabbani in the two years leading up to the memorandum. |
| When brought to his attention by one of his team, Nisman, until then a strong supporter of Fernández, was astounded. The plan “involved two years of both public and secret negotiations with authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in which the Argentinian authorities set aside the demand for justice in the Amia case and agreed to drop the Interpol red alerts as a first step to definitively unlink all the accused Iranians from the judicial investigation,” his accusation alleged. | When brought to his attention by one of his team, Nisman, until then a strong supporter of Fernández, was astounded. The plan “involved two years of both public and secret negotiations with authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in which the Argentinian authorities set aside the demand for justice in the Amia case and agreed to drop the Interpol red alerts as a first step to definitively unlink all the accused Iranians from the judicial investigation,” his accusation alleged. |
| Nisman alleged Fernández needed to normalise relations with Iran to obtain badly-needed oil in the face of a chronic energy deficit that was affecting Argentina’s economy under her administration. | |
| The president’s “ultimate objective” was to “trade freely at state level with Iran and become geopolitically closer to Teheran”, Nisman alleged. | The president’s “ultimate objective” was to “trade freely at state level with Iran and become geopolitically closer to Teheran”, Nisman alleged. |
| Excerpts from the wiretaps spread across Nisman’s 300 pages make for astounding reading, with a conspirator at one point saying he has just left the presidential office with new instructions in the quest to obtain Iranian oil and at another meeting with a government minister to arrange the finer details of the plan. | Excerpts from the wiretaps spread across Nisman’s 300 pages make for astounding reading, with a conspirator at one point saying he has just left the presidential office with new instructions in the quest to obtain Iranian oil and at another meeting with a government minister to arrange the finer details of the plan. |
| Is is also sprinkled with references to the “shit Jew”, speaking of foreign minister Héctor Timerman, who the conspirators accuse of scuttling their “oil for impunity” plan when Interpol refused to call off its international arrest warrants for the Iranians. | Is is also sprinkled with references to the “shit Jew”, speaking of foreign minister Héctor Timerman, who the conspirators accuse of scuttling their “oil for impunity” plan when Interpol refused to call off its international arrest warrants for the Iranians. |
| Nisman’s accusation and the wiretaps were taken under custody after his death by Judge Ariel Lijo, who is expected to decide sometime next month if Nisman’s evidence is solid enough to warrant opening a case against Fernández. | Nisman’s accusation and the wiretaps were taken under custody after his death by Judge Ariel Lijo, who is expected to decide sometime next month if Nisman’s evidence is solid enough to warrant opening a case against Fernández. |