Almost 10 years on from his death in mysterious circumstances at a Buenos Aires tower block, a new report published by prosecutors in Argentina has concluded that Alberto Nisman was killed.
Nisman was found dead from a gunshot wound in his Puerto Madero flat on January 18, 2015, in mysterious circumstances.
An official investigation into his death initially found that the prosecutor took his own life. But a federal judge later reversed the ruling, concluding that Nisman's gunshot wound could not have been self-inflicted.
Just days earlier, Nisman had accused then-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and several other ex-government officials of seeking to cover up alleged Iranian involvement in the deadly 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires – an attack he was tasked with investigating.
The AMIA special prosecutor was due to testify the following day about his allegations before Congress.
After a series of judicial back and forths with various court instances analysing the hypotheses of suicide or homicide, the current file on Nisman’s death maintains that he was killed.
The latest report, presented by Federal Prosecutor's Office N°3, headed by Eduardo Taiano, supports the hypothesis that Nisman was murdered because of his work with the AMIA Attack Investigation Unit (UFI-AMIA), which sought to identify the terrorists behind the bombing.
"Federal prosecutor Natalio Alberto Nisman was the victim of a homicide, and his death was motivated by his work in the UFI-AMIA [unit] and, specifically, by his actions related to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Republic of Iran," concludes the 56-page report.
Publishing their conclusions just eight days before the 10th anniversary of Nisman’s death, the investigators state that "measures are being taken to identify those who carried out the act and those who ordered it."
The investigation has "requested new evidence from various agencies,” reads the report.
The report was published on the same day it emerged that President Javier Milei's government had declassified fresh documents from Argentina’s intelligence services related to the case and provided them to the courts.
In mid-December, Taiano had asked Milei to authorise the release of sealed intelligence files.
The request sought files which could exist within the documentation retained by the intelligence agencies, not only the SIDE intelligence services, but those from the Army and the federal security forces.
Nobody has ever claimed responsibility for the deadly AMIA attack, which killed 85 people and injured some 300, but Israel has accused Tehran of sponsoring it, a position Nisman supported.
In the new report, prosecutors state that there is evidence indicating that during Fernández de Kirchner’s second term in office, there was a geopolitical rapprochement with Iran which provoked divisions within Argentina’s intelligence community.
The SIDE intelligence services, the report says, continued investigating the AMIA case, despite government orders to stop collaborating with Nisman.
Fernández de Kirchner, who served two terms as head of state from 2007 to 2015, has always denied allegations of wrongdoing.
However, she is likely to stand trial in the cover-up case later this year.
Memorandum
Investigators state that Nisman was killed due to his denunciation of Argentina’s attempts to sign the controversial 2013 Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, which sought to cover up for those responsible for the AMIA bombing.
Nisman, who was 51 when he died, alleged that Fernández de Kirchner and her foreign minister Héctor Timerman worked to cover up alleged Iranian involvement in the bombing in order to protect the agreement, which would have boosted trade between the two countries.
He based the complaint on an alleged move by the government to remove Interpol red alert notices issued against alleged suspects – a fact later disputed by an ex-official from the international policing organisation.
Fernández de Kirchner, 71, was accused of obstructing an investigation into the 1994 bombing, in connection with the controversial deal her administration brokered with Tehran.
In 2013, she had signed the controversial memorandum with Iran under which local prosecutors could question the suspects outside Argentina.
Fernández de Kirchner's government said the agreement would allow a deeper investigation into the terrorist bombing. Critics claimed the deal was in fact an agreement designed to prevent the true perpetrators from being brought to justice.
The Jewish community in Argentina expressed outrage and accused Fernández de Kirchner of orchestrating a cover-up.
Meanwhile, the treaty never entered into force.
Intelligence row
The report highlights, among other aspects, the role of intelligence services during the Kirchnerite governments, as well as the development of evidence-gathering measures to identify both the perpetrators and those who ordered the crime.
"The involvement of the intelligence services in the investigation of the AMIA headquarters bombing was evident from its outset. This relationship gained greater prominence after the creation of the UFI-AMIA by order of President Kirchner and the mandate of collaboration given to Prosecutor Nisman by the then-SIDE," the document states.
However, "records indicate that … the situation changed,” write the prosecutors. By “late 2010 and early 2011,” the Kircherite government had “decided to shift its foreign policy regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran, resulting in an order for the Intelligence Secretariat to cease its investigation into the AMIA bombing," the prosecutor’s office asserts.
In response, there was "refusal from a sector of the national intelligence agency to comply with this order, leading to a rift between this group and the highest national authorities, as well as the divisions of the Intelligence Secretariat that continued to respond to them," it explains.
The prosecutor’s office cites the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran at this time and "Nisman’s efforts to argue” that it was unconstitutional.
– TIMES/NA/AFP
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