MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine gov't pledges to find those responsible for Prosecutor Nisman's murder

Nisman wound up dead with a bullet in his head just hours before coming forward in Congress with his findings about the 1994 AMIA bombing

Argentine President Javier Milei said that Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was murdered “at the hands of the darkest powers” in the country. Nisman was found dead on Jan. 18, 2015, in his apartment with a bullet in his head just hours before appearing before a Congressional committee to explain his findings regarding the so-called Memorandum of Understanding with Iran.

The administration of then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner claimed would help investigate the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) headquarters in Buenos Aires killing over 80 people.

Milei dubbed that understanding a “betrayal to the homeland.” However, other members of Milei's Libertarian administration such as Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona and Tourism Secretary (and former Vice President Daniel Scioli) are known for favoring the suicide theory.

“The Office of the President vehemently recalls the 10 years since the assassination of the Federal Prosecutor of the UFI-AMIA, Alberto Nisman, at the hands of the darkest of power,” an official statement read.

“The complaint accused them of abuse of authority and violation of the duties of a public official in connection with their actions to leave unpunished those responsible for the terrorist attack on the AMIA. A central element was the Memorandum of Understanding between the Argentine Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran, a true example of surrender of sovereignty and betrayal of the homeland,” it went on.

The President's Office also underlined the Government's initiative to add the “Trial in Absentia” to the Procedural Code, which would ensure “that those responsible for the worst attack in history on Argentine soil will not go unpunished.”

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, who in January 2015 was the lawmaker who had asked Nisman to appear before Congress, insisted that “Alberto Nisman was murdered. Justice has already said so and it still remains to find all those responsible, from the first to the last, despite the attempts of impunity. The truth is closer than ever. I have a special commitment to this case, because Nisman trusted me to share the complaint he was going to file: the real reason behind the Memorandum with Iran. They murdered a prosecutor of the Nation to hide the darkest and most shameful pact in our history.”

“Now the Supreme Court confirmed it: the case returns to trial and this time it will come with the full force of a country determined to end impunity. In your honor, Alberto,” she added.