MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Nisman's former wife urges “ethical, balanced and responsible” approach to the investigation

”I am not who is supposed to be here, it was Nisman who should have come (to Congress),” Salgado admitted

The ex-wife of late AMIA special investigator Alberto Nisman, judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, has called for a more responsible treatment of the prosecutor's death, speaking out against those who tried to “politicize” events at an audience held on Thursday in the Argentine Senate.

 Speaking in front of prosecutors, judges and opposition figures, the magistrate urged an “ethical, balanced and responsible” approach to the ongoing investigation over Nisman's death, in a meeting that occurred parallel to the debate over the new intelligence law in the Upper House.

Arroyo Salgado expressed that she regretted the invitation “coming at such a difficult time,” while affirming that she had no political agenda on coming to the meeting.

“I am not who is supposed to be here, it was Nisman who should have come,” Salgado admitted, referring to the audience the AMIA lead investigator was scheduled to hold defending his accusations against the president for covering up the 1994 bombing, the day after he was found dead in his Puerto Madero apartment.

“I am not pro-government or opposition. The search for truth and justice are part of the politics of an entire state.”

The judge added that she had asked attorney general Alejandra Gils Carbo to consider sending the case of her ex-husband's death to be heard at the Inter American Court of Human Rights, while also warning those who sought to gain political advantages from the tragedy.

“Let us not keep politicizing an event about which many things still need to be found out. I ask you to be worthy of the current situation,” Salgado fired to the audience.

Members of Argentina's opposition blocs in Congress held the public audience to pay tribute to late prosecutor Nisman, while also expressing their rejection of the new intelligence law currently being debated in the Senate by government politicians.

The meeting was opened shortly after Thursday midday by president of the Senate radical grouping, Gerardo Morales, and as well as Sandra Arroyo Salgado featured speeches by various jurists and political figures opposed to the governing Victory Front, led by President Cristina Fernandez.

Magistrates' Association president Ricardo Recondo was the first to speak, clarifying that he had not come to the audience “to play politics, rather to defend the judiciary's independence, it is the base for the exercise of constitutional guarantees that protect all Argentines, the executive's responsibility.”

“One of our friends and colleagues has died and it is awful to see that after an accusation against the executive he should have been the most protected man in the world and he was not, his death has not been respected either because not a single word of condolence has been heard,” Recondo signaled.

Prosecutor José María Campagnoli, meanwhile, asserted that “the republic cannot exist without an independent judiciary, and an independent judiciary cannot exist without prosecutors who have autonomy and push forward criminal investigations.”

Campagnoli added that Nisman had died “in a hostile environment after being severely attacked by the government,” and that the Prosecutor's Office had refused to hold a minute's silence following his death.

“The march we are proposing is a tribute to Nisman, a colleague who died doing his job,” the prosecutor fired, referring to a planned silent march by some prosecutors and opposition figures next Wednesday.