Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Prosecuter found dead hours before testifying on 1994 AMIA Bombing

 Justice denied for two decades and the prosecutor now possibly the latest victim
Alberto Nisman found dead. A forced suicide?
 July 18, 2014 marked 20 years since the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina's history. A siren sounded at the precise time the bomb exploded on July 18, 1994 at 9:53am (1253 GMT) and reduced the seven-story Jewish-Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA) community centre in Buenos Aires to rubble reported the BBC. 85 people were murdered ranging in age from 5 years old to 67 years old and more than 300 hundred wounded. 20 years later those responsible for this act of terrorism remain at large. A movement to pay homage to the victims of this crime continues to remember and demand justice two decades later that continues to elude the families of the victims.

Protesters: "I am Nisman"
The failure to close the case 20 years later has now taken a more troubling and potentially sinister turn. Alberto Nisman, who was Jewish, was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. Some over social media are describing him as the 86th victim to have been claimed more than 20 years later on January 18, 2015 in what the government has declared a suicide, but thousands have taken to the street questioning the official version. Nisman was the prosecutor who spent a decade investigating the case and had accused high ranking government officials of allegedly obstructing the investigation was found dead the day before he was due to testify before Congress. No suicide letter was found. Reuters reported the following:
State prosecutor Alberto Nisman, the lead investigator into the 1994 car bomb attack that killed 85 people at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, was found dead in his apartment late on Sunday, hours before he was scheduled to present his case to Congress.
A 22-caliber pistol was found at his side and Nisman appears to have committed suicide, but many of the details of the case are unclear and allegations of foul play have surged. He died just a few days after accusing President Cristina Fernandez of trying to hamper his probe.
This case needs to be monitored closely as does the investigation into the worse single attack on Jews since World War 2 that has been linked to Iran.

85 victims of July 18, 1994 AMIA bombing

 

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