A special prosecutor appointed to investigate the 1994 terrorist bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires did not commit suicide, but was the victim of murder, a soon-to-be released report by Argentinian intelligence services acknowledges.
Alberto Nisman, a member of the Argentinian Jewish community, was found dead on January 18th, 2015, a day before he was set to submit formal complaints with the Argentinian congress against senior officials, including then-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
According to Nisman, who was charged with investigating the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Center, which left 85 dead and more than 300 wounded, government officials had conspired to conceal the Iranian government’s role in directing the attack, part of a larger scheme to protect the Argentinian government’s relationship with Tehran.
After the initial investigation into the bombing became mired in accusations of corruption and misconduct, Nisman, then a regional prosecutor, was tapped to ascertain whether the Iranian government itself was responsible for the bombing, and what role if any Argentinian officials had in obstructing the initial investigation.
Nisman’s investigation began in 2004 – a full decade after the bombing – and by October 2006, Nisman had collected sufficient evidence to formally accuse the Iranian regime of ordering the attack and directing the Hezbollah terror group to carry it out.
As the investigation progressed, Nisman uncovered evidence allegedly implicating senior Argentinian officials, including Kirchner, of actively working to conceal Iran’s responsibility for the attack. According to Nisman’s report, slated to be delivered on January 19th, 2015, Kirchner and other ranking officials were working to whitewash Iranian ties to the bombers, thus allowing the Kirchner government to maintain its ties with Tehran.
After Nisman was found dead from a gunshot wound a day before his report was to be submitted, an investigation into the incident concluded Nisman’s death was suicide.
The controversial report, challenged by Nisman’s family and leaders of the Argentinian Jewish community, was later dismissed by Jduge Fabiana Palmaghini, who ordered the case reopened in December, 2016.
The findings of the second investigation confirm Nisman’s death was not suicide, but murder, Argentinian news outlets have reported.
According to a report by the Clarin daily, the findings on Nisman’s death, prepared by the Gendarmeria Nacional Argentina (GNA), Argentina’s federal law enforcement agency, will be released within the next 30 days.
An Argentine news outlet’s investigation into the death of Jewish special prosecutor Alberto Nisman won a national prize from Google Argentina and the National Forum of Professional Journalists.
The national “Innovative and Digital Award” was announced during the 6th National Congress of Digital Journalism, organized by the National Forum of Professional Journalists, or FOPEA.
La Nacion Data Argentina analyzed 40,000 audio recordings from the tapped phone of an Iranian agent over two years, publishing the findings and developing a news app to search by topic or person.
Google Argentina recognized “the exploration and testing of different technologies to achieve the journalistic objective, one of which was the voice recognition to achieve an accurate transcription of the audios,” the wiretaps that Nisman presented as evidence of his accusation of a government cover-up. “The technology was unable to fulfill this task satisfactorily and this marks a way for Google and other industry companies to continue working on developing more and better tools.”
Nisman had accused the Argentine government of covering up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center, which killed 85 and injured 300.
The data analysis conducted by 120 volunteers discovered that:
* Iran’s local community paid bail to help a local activist accused of being a member of the violent movement Quebracho;
* A national senator from an official government party was discovered to be an active lobbyist for the Iranian government in partnership with local businessmen;
* Iran financed a local activist movement in favor of the Kirchner government for leading demonstrations and protests against the U.S. Embassy.
A federal judge requested that evidence from the transcribed recordings be used in the investigation against former Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, who is accused of treason in Argentina in a lawsuit filed by fathers of two AMIA bombing victims.
Nisman, a Jewish prosecutor, was found shot to death on Jan. 18, 2015, hours before he was to present his allegations of a secret deal to cover up Iranian officials’ alleged role in the bombing of the AMIA center in Buenos Aires. His allegations named then-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Timerman and the government as co-conspirators in a cover-up.
Whether Nisman’s shooting in his apartment was murder or self-inflicted has yet to be determined, though local media outlets have reported that an investigation into his death is set to release its findings, suggesting Nisman’s death was murder.
The La Nacion data investigation is also shortlisted for the global Data Journalism Awards.