Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas has dismissed the accusation made by a state prosecutor that claimed President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and top government officials conspired to cover up Iran’s alleged role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center.
Federal Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita is expected to appeal the decision to discontinue the investigation.
«The judge believes the minimum conditions to launch a criminal investigation have not been met, based on what the prosecutor presented,» the Judicial Information Centre (CIJ) said in a statement. Buenos Aires Herald had asserted back in January when Nisman’s complaint was filed, that it failed «to fan flames of conspiracy.»
Four days before he was found dead in his apartment in the Buenos Aires City neighbourhood of Puerto Madero, AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused President Fernández de Kirchner, Foreign Minster Héctor Timerman, lawmaker Andrés “Cuervo” Larroque and social leaders Luis D’Elía and Fernando Esteche of conducting secret negotiations to cover-up Iran’s alleged involvenment in the attack that claimed the lives of 85 people and left hundreds injured.
Pollicita later went forward with the criminal complaint, claiming Argentina would receive unspecified trade benefits from the deal.
«None of the two hypotheses of a crime put forward by prosecutor Pollicita in his writ stand up to the minimum level of scrutiny,» Rafecas wrote in his ruling today.
Iran has long denied any involvement in the AMIA attack.
buenosairesherald.com