Judge accuses Nisman’s ex-wife of paralyzing the investigation into mysterious death
Judge Fabiana Palmaghini yesterday dealt a heavy blow to San Isidro Federal Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado’s efforts to remove prosecutor Viviana Fein from the investigation into the mysterious death of former AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman.
Palmaghini went even further than simply denying her request, going as far as to accuse her colleague of hindering the investigation that seeks to determine what happened to Nisman on January 18, when he was found dead of a gunshot to the head in his apartment in the Puerto Madero neighbourhood.
The decision to reject Fein’s recusal request was made by Palmaghini late on Tuesday, hours after a three-hour hearing between the prosecutor and Nisman’s ex-wife in which the two traded accusations. The resolution was only revealed early yesterday morning.
The decision to reject Fein’s recusal request was made by Palmaghini late on Tuesday, hours after a three-hour hearing between the prosecutor and Nisman’s ex-wife in which the two traded accusations. But the resolution was only revealed early yesterday morning.
For Fein, it was her opportunity to claim victory. Since at least the first days of March, Arroyo Salgado has been publicly accusing her of wanting to prove Nisman committed suicide. Nisman’s ex-wife has always been convinced that her former husband was murdered days after filing a criminal complaint against President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner accusing her of seeking to whitewash the Iranian involvement in the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish community centre.
In tune with Fein, Palmaghini issued a sharp resolution accusing Arroyo Salgado of filing constant requests which inevitably lead to a paralysis of the case. Palmaghini, in other words, accused the San Isidro federal judge appointed during the Kirchnerite era of failing to cooperate to solve the mysterious death of her former husband.
In what could be interpreted as a direct attack, Palmaghini also told Arroyo Salgado that she mixed up the roles played by a plaintiff, a judge and a prosecutor, making it clear that it is Fein who has to investigate and her duty is to monitor the prosecutor. Palmaghini seems to have gone to extra lengths to make clear Arroyo Salgado cannot determine the pace of the probe.
Another sign of irritation with Arroyo Salgado was the fact that Palmaghini ordered her to pay the court costs for the litigation she launched with the recusal request.
Palmaghini’s rebuke comes less than a month after the San Isidro judge requested her colleague to take charge of the probe but she refused, leaving Nisman’s case in Fein’s hands.
Ten days ago, Arroyo Salgado requested to separate Fein from the probe, also arguing that she had appointed a biased forensic expert to conduct an important analysis to determine if Nisman could have been killed.
Arroyo Salgado disapproved of the designation of Enrique Prueguer as a forensic expert. Before he was named to the post, Prueger said he believed Nisman had committed suicide and even criticized Osvaldo Raffo, a coroner hired as one of Arroyo Salgado’s independent experts. In an interview with Radio del Plata, Prueguer said he did not trust Raffo as he had failed to report cases of torture during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Raffo served as a medical doctor for the Buenos Aires provincial police during the state-terror era.
Palmaghini, once again, backed the decision made by Fein and said she could appoint a technical adviser to help her in the probe.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Fein explained she had appointed Prueguer as an independent expert to conduct a forensic test at Nisman’s flat on the 13th floor of the Le Parc II Tower. However, she also said that she will not necessarily take into account the results of his analysis to include them in the judicial file.
A board of coroners
Arroyo Salgado has repeatedly criticized the autopsy conducted on Nisman’s body by the Supreme Court’s coroners on January 19, hours after he was found dead. The San Isidro judge pointed fingers at Fein for not waiting until after the plaintiffs named their own medical expert before moving forward with the autopsy. She also said the coroners did not take into account how the body was found.
In an attempt to answer the criticism, Fein summoned a board of coroners to analyze the autopsy and to decide if the Supreme Court’s experts were right to affirm that there were no third parties involved in Nisman’s death. But Arroyo Salgado requested Palmaghini to declare the summons null and void.
The judge rejected her request and now Fein will have to summon the experts again. Arroyo Salgado has three working days to appeal that resolution. That’s why Fein wants to wait and will probably be making a decision on Monday, sources from her office yesterday told the Herald.
At press time, Fein was drafting a response to Arroyo Salgado’s request to suspend an inspection of Nisman’s apartment scheduled for April 13. Sources close to the San Isidro judge explained to the Herald that, in fact, she wanted the inspection to be held yesterday as her forensic expert Daniel Salcedo was going abroad on holiday.
Fein does not believe Arroyo Salgado will give up on her efforts to separate her from the case.
In fact, public defender Germán Carlevaro — who represents the San Isidro federal judge — repeated during Tuesday’s hearing that Nisman was murdered, suggesting the case had to be taken to a federal court.
Fein believes that could be Arroyo Salgado’s next strategy. So far, she continues responding to Nisman’s ex-wife’s legal filings. Sources close to the prosecutor said she had been doing this for the last 45 days. “Any time Fein makes a decision, Arroyo Salgado files a request to delay it,” a source said.
The Herald tried to contact Arroyo Salgado to obtain her version of events but she was unavailable.
Lagomarsino back in the spotlight
Fein yesterday issued a press release reporting that the Federal Police was examining stains found on Diego Lagomarsino’s clothes, trainers and other belongings seized at the information technology expert’s apartment in Martínez, which was raided last month — more than 50 days after Nisman was found dead.
Lagomarsino appeared before Fein on January 19 to tell her that he had lent Nisman the .22 calibre Bersa pistol that killed him on January 17.
Arroyo Salgado believes Nisman was murdered when Lagomarsino visited him, affirming that the IT expert was actually a secret service employee. Her former husband was a close ally of former Intelligence Secretariat (SI, formerly known as SIDE) Operations chief Antonio “Jaime” Stiuso, whom the national government accuses of diverting the investigation into the AMIA bombing.
Arroyo Salgado also told Fein that Lagomarsino shared a bank account with Nisman abroad.
Nisman’s sister, Sandra, and his mother, Sara Garfunkel, were the ones who provided the information to Arroyo Salgado. Fein wants to question Garfunkel but has so far been unable to because Nisman’s mother suffers from high blood pressure.
Sources told the Herald Fein will not rush that testimony but she will request account information directly from the bank. She will probably have to share it with her federal colleague, Juan Pedro Zoni, who requested Federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral investigate the account.
buenosairesherald.com