BUENOS AIRES (AP) ― Argentina’s government said Monday there was no indication that anybody else was involved in the death of a prosecutor who had accused President Cristina Fernandez of shielding Iranian suspects in the nation’s deadliest terror attack, a declaration sure to be closely scrutinized.
Alberto Nisman, who had been investigating the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, was found in the bathroom of his apartment late Sunday, hours before he was to testify in a Congressional hearing about the case.
Investigating prosecutor Viviana Fein said the preliminary autopsy found “no intervention’’ of others in Nisman’s death. Fein stopped short of calling Nisman’s death a suicide, leaving open the possibility of accidental death.
The findings left more questions than answers about the death, which came only five days after Nisman accused Fernandez and other officials of reaching a deal with Iran that shielded some officials from possible punishment for the attack.
Late Sunday, federal police agents in charge of Nisman’s protection alerted their superiors that he wasn’t answering phone calls, according to the Security Ministry statement. When Nisman’s mother wasn’t able to open the door because a key was in the lock on the other side, a locksmith was called to open it, the ministry said. A .22 caliber handgun and a shell casing were found next to Nisman’s body.
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| A protester shouts at police guarding the government house after the death of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman in Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday. (AP-Yonhap) |
Monday afternoon, the presidency ordered the declassification of the names of the agents that Nisman had demanded as part of his probe, apparently an attempt by the administration to show transparency and avoid any accusations of wrongdoing. But Fernandez herself had not commented publicly on his death by late Monday.
Congresswoman Cornelia Schmidt-Liermann, interviewed before the preliminary autopsy finding, said she had planned to pick Nisman up Monday at his residence and accompany him for his testimony.
“Everybody who had contact with him the last 24 hours says he was confident’’ about his testimony, she told the Associated Press. “There is no indication, under any circumstances, that he killed himself.’’
Schmidt-Liermann said Congress met Monday afternoon despite Nisman’s absence, and many members signed a declaration urging a full investigation into Nisman’s death and insisting that the investigation continue.
Schmidt-Liermann and others who knew Nisman said he lived under constant threats on his life from Iranian agents and pressure from the Argentine government.
Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for Secure and Free Society, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said he was to testify with Nisman on a U.S. Congressional subcommittee in July 2013 but Nisman pulled out at the last minute.
“He pulled out because of threats from the Argentine government’’ that he would be fired if he testified, said Humire.
Nisman lived in Le Parc tower, a complex of luxury condos in the trendy Puerto Madero neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Reporters and others gathered outside Monday were not allowed to enter, the norm in such exclusive complexes, where many residents come and go via underground parking garages.
Nisman had 10 federal police assigned to his protection, according to a statement from the Ministry of Security, which did not provide details on where the officers were posted when Nisman died.
Nisman was appointed 10 years ago by Fernandez’s late husband, then-President Nestor Kirchner, to revive a floundering investigation into the bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association in Buenos Aires.
A small white van with several hundred pounds of explosives detonated in front of the seven-story building, causing it to collapse in the densely populated area of town.
Argentina has one of the largest concentrations of Jews outside of Israel, with estimates ranging around 200,000, mostly in Buenos Aires.
After years of inconclusive investigations and failed trials, an Argentine judge in 2006 accepted Nisman’s request to order the arrest of a former Iranian president, foreign minister and other officials. Interpol later put most of them on its most-wanted list.
But Argentina and Iran reached agreement in 2013 to jointly investigate the attack, a move viewed with skepticism by Jewish leaders who feared it would undermine Nisman’s probe.
Last week, Nisman accused Fernandez and other senior Argentine officials of agreeing not to punish at least two former Iranian officials in the case. He asked a judge to call Fernandez and others, including Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, for questioning.
