An Argentine judiciary official investigating last year’s death of Alberto Nisman, a special prosecutor who died after accusing then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of covering up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center, concluded that Nisman was murdered, the Buenos Aires Herald reported on Friday.
“Considering the evidence collected so far, Alberto Nisman was a victim of homicide, ” said Ricardo Sáenz, the attorney general for Argentina’s Criminal Appeals Court.
Nisman, who was found with a bullet wound to his head on January 18, 2015, died “four days after filing a criminal complaint against the then President [Fernández de Kirchner] and other top officials, including former Foreign minister Héctor Timerman, ” noted Sáenz. “It was also a day before Nisman was scheduled to present his case before a Congressional committee.”
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Sáenz also drew attention to Nisman’s former colleague, Diego Lagomarsino, an information technology expert who had lent Nisman the gun that killed him. According to Sáenz, evidence shows that Nisman was shot in the back of the head, which would be difficult for someone committing suicide.
Sáenz’s conclusion contradicts that of Judge Fabiana Palmaghini, who ruled two weeks ago that there was no evidence that Nisman was murdered. Sáenz’s writ is set to be considered on March 18 by the Buenos Aires City Appeals Court, which will decide whether or not to send the Nisman case to federal court for prosecution. One of the judges on the panel, Mario Filozof, is considered to be an ally of Palmaghani.
Federal Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, Nisman’s ex-wife, and Sara Garfunkel, Nisman’s mother, have both been pushing for the case to be brought before a federal court.
While the government of Fernández de Kirchner came to an agreement to jointly investigate the bombing with Iran in 2013, the recent victory of Mauricio Macri as president and the exitof Fernández de Kirchner has brought about a change. Macri’s attorney general, Germán Garavano, announced shortly after the election that Argentina would not renew the pact with Iran, preventing the chief suspect in the bombing from having a say in the verdict.
Eamonn MacDonagh, contributing editor to The Tower, has written extensively on the Nisman case. In Alberto Nisman’s Secret Recordings, Revealed, which was published in the July 2015 issue of The Tower Magazine, MacDonagh exposed some of the back channel dealings between the Argentine government’s representatives and Iranian interlocutors.
by TheTower.org
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