Prosecutor Viviana Fein is leading the investigations into Alberto Nisman’s death (Photo: Claudio Fanchi/Télam)
Investigations are continuing into the sudden death of special AMIA prosecutor Alberto Nisman, a day after protests broke out across Argentina.
Nisman’s body was found locked inside his apartment in Puerto Madero on Sunday night. An initial autopsy yesterday indicated that he had died from a single gunshot to the head. The bullet came from the .22 calibre gun found near the body, and there were no indications of third party involvement.
In developments today, the prosecutor investigating Nisman’s death, Viviana Fein, told local media that no traces of gunpowder had been found on Nisman’s hands. Fein added that this was common with a gun of that calibre and that “this does not prove that he did not fire the gun,” as the autopsy suggests.
Fein said she will be taking the testimony of the two police officers that were on duty on Sunday as part of a team of ten assigned to protect the prosecutor. Fein will also speak to Nisman’s relatives and ex-wife, who arrived in the country earlier today.
Also today, officers conducted a search of Nisman’s office in order to take any computers or other items that could support the investigation.
Reactions and Protests
Many people reacted angrily to the news of Nisman’s death, with protests staged across several Argentine towns and cities last night.
“We’re protesting because the Kirchnerist government has set a new record for corruption and hostility,” Pablo Pampin, a health insurance employee who took part in the protest in Plaza de Mayo, told The Argentina Independent. “On Wednesday a prosecutor accuses the president of a cover up in the AMIA case and on Sunday he is found dead. He allegedly committed suicide, but the question is why he did? What did they threaten him with?”
Meanwhile, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner released a statement lamenting the death of Nisman, saying that his suspected suicide prompted “first stupor and then questions”.
“What was it that leads a person to make the terrible decision to take their own life?” President Fernández wrote in a message published on her official Facebook page. “In the case of the suicide(?) of the prosecutor in charge of the AMIA case, Alberto Nisman, there is not only stupor and questions but a story too long, too hard, and above all very sordid: the tragedy of the worst terrorist attack carried out in Argentina.”
In her message, President Fernández recalled the alleged cover up in the original investigation into the 1994 AMIA bombing, the trial for which includes as suspects ex-president Carlos Menem and former judge Juan José Galeano, and which is expected to begin later this year.
“Today, more that ever, we cannot allow them to do the same with the trial over the cover up as they did with the original case. We will discover who carried out the [AMIA] attack when we know who covered for them.”
The president concluded her statement with several unanswered questions about Nisman’s behaviour in the days before his death that she said must be investigated by the judiciary.
Secretary General for the Presidency, Aníbal Fernández, also spoke about question marks over Nisman’s accusations against the president last week, after the prosecutor had returned early from holidays to present the lawsuit.
“Why was he so desperate to return [to Argentina] in those terms? It doesn’t make sense,” he told reporters this morning. “He was made to come back and present the suit,” Fernández said, adding that the incident was linked to “top-level structures like the Intelligence Secretariat.”
‘Truth and Justice’
In other developments, members of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires have called for a march to the AMIA centre on Wednesday to demand “truth and justice”.
Reacting to yesterday’s shock revelation, the AMIA and the Delegation of Israeli Associations in Argentina (DAIA) released a joint press statement calling Nisman’s death “a blow for the AMIA case”.
“[We will] redouble their commitment to clarify what happened in the attack and bring those responsible to justice. The AMIA and DAIA demand that the special prosecution unit continues to work so that the physical disappearance of Nisman does not signify the death of a case that left 85 fatalities and hundreds injured.”
Lead image by Claudio Fanchi, via Télam.
The post Nisman: Investigation Continues into AMIA Prosecutor’s Death appeared first on The Argentina Independent.