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| Argentine Officials Point to Aide in Prosecutor’s Mysterious Death | Argentine Officials Point to Aide in Prosecutor’s Mysterious Death |
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| BUENOS AIRES — | |
| BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s government on Wednesday cast greater suspicion on an aide to Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor whose mysterious death this month has shaken the country, by describing the aide as an intelligence operative — adding to its assertions that rogue spies were involved in the events around Mr. Nisman’s death. | BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s government on Wednesday cast greater suspicion on an aide to Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor whose mysterious death this month has shaken the country, by describing the aide as an intelligence operative — adding to its assertions that rogue spies were involved in the events around Mr. Nisman’s death. |
| “This kid’s situation is starting to look worrisome,” Aníbal Fernández, the president’s chief of staff, told reporters here this morning, referring to the aide, Diego Lagomarsino, 35. | “This kid’s situation is starting to look worrisome,” Aníbal Fernández, the president’s chief of staff, told reporters here this morning, referring to the aide, Diego Lagomarsino, 35. |
| Mr. Lagomarsino worked in the prosecutor’s investigative unit as an information technology consultant and lent Mr. Nisman the .22-caliber Bersa pistol used in his death, investigators say. | Mr. Lagomarsino worked in the prosecutor’s investigative unit as an information technology consultant and lent Mr. Nisman the .22-caliber Bersa pistol used in his death, investigators say. |
| Before Mr. Nisman was found dead in his apartment this month, he made the explosive assertion that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had tried to reach a secret deal with Iran to shield Iranian officials from responsibility in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina, which killed 85 people. | Before Mr. Nisman was found dead in his apartment this month, he made the explosive assertion that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had tried to reach a secret deal with Iran to shield Iranian officials from responsibility in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina, which killed 85 people. |
| Mr. Nisman had contended in a 289-page criminal complaint that the Argentine government sought the deal as part of a trade pact with Iran. He died the night before he was scheduled to testify about his accusations to lawmakers. | Mr. Nisman had contended in a 289-page criminal complaint that the Argentine government sought the deal as part of a trade pact with Iran. He died the night before he was scheduled to testify about his accusations to lawmakers. |
| Speaking at a news conference at his lawyer’s office on Wednesday, Mr. Lagomarsino said he regretted lending his gun to Mr. Nisman. Mr. Lagomarsino said the prosecutor had asked him for the weapon because he had lost trust in the police sentries assigned to protect him after making his accusations public against Mrs. Kirchner. | |
| “ ‘I’m more scared of being right than not being right,’ he told me in other words,” Mr. Lagomarsino said. | |
| Viviana Fein, the lead investigator into Mr. Nisman’s death, made it clear on Wednesday that Mr. Lagomarsino was not suspected of killing the prosecutor. “At the moment there is no element whatsoever implicating him in a premeditated crime,” Ms. Fein said. | |
| Investigators have not determined whether Mr. Nisman committed suicide or was killed, but Mrs. Kirchner’s government has suggested that Mr. Nisman was being manipulated by an ousted spymaster at the country’s main intelligence agency, the Intelligence Secretariat. | Investigators have not determined whether Mr. Nisman committed suicide or was killed, but Mrs. Kirchner’s government has suggested that Mr. Nisman was being manipulated by an ousted spymaster at the country’s main intelligence agency, the Intelligence Secretariat. |
| In a televised speech on Monday night, she said that she would send a bill to Argentina’s congress to dissolve the agency, proposing to replace it with one that had reduced surveillance powers. | |
| On Wednesday, Mr. Fernández, her chief of staff, asserted that the aide, Mr. Lagomarsino, had been observed carrying out “intelligence services” at protests over a 2004 nightclub fire that left 194 people dead. So far, Mr. Lagomarsino has been the only person charged in connection to Mr. Nisman’s death. He has been accused of providing a firearm to someone not licensed to use it. | |
| Mr. Fernández said Mr. Lagomarsino was seen photographing people at the protests; he did not say whom or what agency Mr. Lagomarsino could have been working for at the time. | Mr. Fernández said Mr. Lagomarsino was seen photographing people at the protests; he did not say whom or what agency Mr. Lagomarsino could have been working for at the time. |
| The claims and counterclaims come amid a furor over whether the ousted spymaster helped Mr. Nisman craft the criminal complaint accusing Mrs. Kirchner of secretly trying to reach the deal with Iran. | The claims and counterclaims come amid a furor over whether the ousted spymaster helped Mr. Nisman craft the criminal complaint accusing Mrs. Kirchner of secretly trying to reach the deal with Iran. |
| While authorities have already barred Mr. Lagomarsino from leaving the country as their investigation into Mr. Nisman’s death continues, Ms. Fein said she wasn’t planning on summoning Mr. Lagomarsino for more testimony. | |
| In a speech on Monday night, Mrs. Kirchner accused Mr. Lagomarsino of being an opponent of her government, based on an analysis of his Twitter account. She connected him to Clarín, a powerful media group with which the president has long sparred. She based her argument on an assertion that Mr. Lagomarsino’s brother works at a law firm with ties to Clarín. | In a speech on Monday night, Mrs. Kirchner accused Mr. Lagomarsino of being an opponent of her government, based on an analysis of his Twitter account. She connected him to Clarín, a powerful media group with which the president has long sparred. She based her argument on an assertion that Mr. Lagomarsino’s brother works at a law firm with ties to Clarín. |
| A spokesman for Clarín said that Mr. Lagomarsino never had any ties to the media group, which includes one of Argentina’s most influential daily newspapers. | A spokesman for Clarín said that Mr. Lagomarsino never had any ties to the media group, which includes one of Argentina’s most influential daily newspapers. |
| Many Argentines contend that the government is trying to shift the focus of the investigation to Mr. Lagomarsino. | Many Argentines contend that the government is trying to shift the focus of the investigation to Mr. Lagomarsino. |
| “She had been preparing the ground for this,” Sergio Berensztein, a political analyst, said of Mrs. Kirchner. “Hypothesizing about murder and then accusing Lagomarsino.” | “She had been preparing the ground for this,” Sergio Berensztein, a political analyst, said of Mrs. Kirchner. “Hypothesizing about murder and then accusing Lagomarsino.” |
| Mr. Berensztein argued that Mrs. Kirchner’s approach fit a common strategy of tackling scandals here. “She applies the same model to every problem,” he said, referring to issues like Argentina’s debt battle with foreign creditors. “Reduce it to a simple conflict: her, the good person, against all the bad ones.” | Mr. Berensztein argued that Mrs. Kirchner’s approach fit a common strategy of tackling scandals here. “She applies the same model to every problem,” he said, referring to issues like Argentina’s debt battle with foreign creditors. “Reduce it to a simple conflict: her, the good person, against all the bad ones.” |
| Others here are also taking issue with Mrs. Kirchner’s handling of the crisis, including the plan to dissolve Argentina’s intelligence agency. That decision came after a power struggle with Antonio J. Stiusso, the powerful spymaster ousted from his post last month by Mrs. Kirchner. | Others here are also taking issue with Mrs. Kirchner’s handling of the crisis, including the plan to dissolve Argentina’s intelligence agency. That decision came after a power struggle with Antonio J. Stiusso, the powerful spymaster ousted from his post last month by Mrs. Kirchner. |
| While Mr. Lagomarsino did not refer on Wednesday to the government’s claim that he was involved in intelligence activities, his lawyer said that Mr. Lagomarsino did not know Mr. Stiusso. | |
| Describing Mrs. Kirchner’s comments about Mr. Lagomarsino as a diversionary tactic, Jorge Knoblovits, a prominent Jewish leader, called her speech on Monday “out of proportion and McCarthyist,” a reference to the practice of making accusations of subversion employed in the 1950s by the American senator Joseph R. McCarthy against suspected Communists. | Describing Mrs. Kirchner’s comments about Mr. Lagomarsino as a diversionary tactic, Jorge Knoblovits, a prominent Jewish leader, called her speech on Monday “out of proportion and McCarthyist,” a reference to the practice of making accusations of subversion employed in the 1950s by the American senator Joseph R. McCarthy against suspected Communists. |