MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine Jewish community demand the true causes of Nisman's death be investigated

AMIA president Leonardo Jmelnitzky insisted “we don't believe in the good faith of Iran or the alleged culprits involved” in the AMIA attack.

The leaders of Argentina's main Jewish organizations, AMIA and DAIA strongly criticized the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Iran by the administration of President Cristina Fernandez and demanded that “the true causes” of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman be thoroughly investigated.

 Nisman for almost ten years was the leading investigator of the 1994 attack on AMIA, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured 330, but despite several magistrates, prosecutors and intelligence research never managed to prosecute anybody and remains under a veil of impunity.

Allegedly the attack was masterminded by Iran, executed by Hezbollah with support from locals.

On Tuesday during Holocaust Day commemoration, AMIA president Leonardo Jmelnitzky insisted “we don't believe in the good faith of Iran or the alleged culprits involved. They have systematically refused to collaborate with Argentine Justice”.

DAIA treasurer Mario Comisarenco called for the investigation of Nisman accusations and of “the true causes of prosecutor Nisman's death”.

The commemoration under the heading of “Freedom, lives and legacy of the survivors” took place at AMIA's headquarters in a full packed auditorium, with members from Argentina's Jewish community and local politicians.

“How can we forget 27 January 2013, two years ago when the Memorandum was signed with those who deny the holocaust? Today we are again with a new chapter of that story, the death of Nisman”, said Comisarenco.

And he insisted “why was the MoU signed? Which was its real reach and intention? How far did Nisman's charges go? Why did he appear dead? Who is responsible? Today we have come to honor who was the victim for investigating the most horrendous attack in Argentine history. We demand justice”.

AMIA president Jmelnitzky also strongly criticized the MoU with Iran and “despite this very difficult scenario we will continue to demand that the case be investigated and the culprits found and taken to justice”.

At the end of the ceremony six candles were lit to honor the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust. “Those victims will never be forgotten”, said those present followed by a minute of silence.

Finally Eugenia Unger a survivor of Auschwitz in tears recalled her two years in the concentration camp and then referred to the AMIA case. ”Here in Pasteur street (downtown Buenos Aires) we have cemetery. And nobody is concerned about what caused it”.

Tuesday's Holocaust remembrance was the first time Jewish community organizations do not participate of the official ceremony at the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

They did so to express their condemnation of Nisman's death and his alleged charges that the government of Cristina Fernandez and Iran had been negotiating a cover up deal to drop charges against Iranians for an increase in bilateral trade.

The ceremony organized by the Foreign Ministry took place at 6pm at the San Martín Palace, while the Jewish organizations honored victims of the Holocaust at 11am, at AMIA headquarters located at Pasteur 633.

In 2005, the United Nations designated January 27 — the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp — as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The UN resolution called for “a remembrance of past crimes with an eye towards preventing them in the future.”