Argentines remember prosecutor killed while probing attack on Jews

Pulse News Agency International by AFP

January 19, 2020 2:54 AM

Argentines paid tribute Saturday to a prosecutor on the fifth anniversary of his unsolved death while probing the bombing of a Jewish community center -- an attack in which he alleged a presidential cover-up to shield Iran in exchange for trade.

Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, pictured in 2009, died while probing a bombing of a Jewish center in which he blamed Iran

Prosecutor Alberto Nisman led the probe of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association headquarters, which left 85 dead and 300 wounded.

In 2015, his body was found in his Buenos Aires apartment with a gunshot wound to the head, delivered at close range from a handgun found at his side.

His death came days after he directly accused then-president Cristina Kirchner, now the vice president, and some of her top aides of covering up Iran's alleged involvement in the bombing.

Kirchner, who was in office from 2007 to 2015, is accused of having attempted to conceal Iranian involvement in the bombing in return for lucrative trade deals with her government.

Nisman had been due to outline his case against Kirchner before Congress two days after his death.

On Saturday night, some 3,000 demonstrators at a commemorative rally in Buenos Aires shouted "murderer" every time Kirchner's name was mentioned as their way of blaming her for Nisman's death. They denied suggestions that he had committed suicide.

Nisman's mother, Sara Garfunkel, said that in the past five years Argentina has failed to find justice for her son's death.

"This prosecutor was murdered and we know nothing. I do not understand how a man of his strength and determination could commit suicide," said another demonstrator, a 55-year-old woman who gave her name as Maria.

At the rally, the current president, center-left Alberto Fernandez, came in for heavy criticism. He said this month he doubts Nisman killed himself but said there is no evidence of murder.

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Pulse News Agency International by AFP