President Fernández was accused of an alleged cover up in the AMIA bombing case. (Photo: Presidencia/Télam)
The accusations were made by prosecutor Alberto Nisman in January, just a few days before he was found dead in his Puerto Madero apartment. On 13th February, prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita took on the investigation and requested that President Fernández and other high-ranking members of her administration be formally charged with attempting to divert the criminal investigation into the AMIA attack.
According to Nisman’s accusations, Argentina would shield Iranian suspects in the AMIA case in exchange for increase trade in oil and grains.
Judge Rafecas ruled that the accusations did not meet the “minimum conditions” to warrant further investigation. He stated that two main elements on which the cover up hypothesis was based – the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran and Argentina’s supposed efforts to remove Interpol’s ‘red notices’ for the Iranian suspects – were not supported by facts.
Approved in 2013, the MoU with Iran, which included plans to create a Truth Commission to investigate the AMIA bombing, was deemed unconstitutional in 2014 and never implemented. Meanwhile, days after Nisman’s formal accusation, Interpol’s ex-Secretary General Ronald Noble stated that the Argentine government had not requested the removal of ‘red notices’ for six Iranian suspects even after signing the MoU.
According to a statement by the judge: “It is clear that neither of the two alleged crimes cited by Prosecutor Pollicita in his petition hold up. The first (the creation of a Truth Commission), because the supposed crime never occurred, and the second (the removal Interpol’s “Red Notices”) because the evidence gathered emphatically rejects the prosecutor’s version of evens, and also leads to a conclusion that no crime was committed.”
Prosecutor Pollicita is now able to appeal the decision by Rafecas.
Story in development…
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