Argentina Jews Push for Answers on Alberto Nisman Death
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After eight months, the people of Argentina should know what happened to prosecutor Alberto Nisman, the president of the country’s Jewish umbrella organization said.
“We respect the Justice Department’s decisions. But, after eight months at least we should know what happened to the prosecutor,” DAIA President Julio Schlosser said Tuesday night at an event in Buenos Aires marking the 80th year of the organization.
Schlosser also said that “21 years after the AMIA Jewish center bombing we have no one guilty, no one paying for the crime in jail.”
The event was attended by politicians, foreign ambassadors, NGO representatives, businessmen, and Jewish leaders from throughout the country. Three presidential candidates the country’s scheduled October elections also attended the event.
“We have here today leaders of the ruling party and also from the opposition and from minor parties. This is an example of the society that we want. This is the Argentina that we will want to leave our children, with people gathering together and sharing,” Schlosser told the 1,200 event attendees.
The DAIA was founded in 1935 by 28 Jewish institutions, and today represents 125 different Jewish institutions with 25 local branches around the country.
Also Tuesday, the Buenos Aires City Appeals Court dismissed a request by Nisman’s former wife, Sandra Arroyo Salgado, to remove prosecutor Viviana Fein from the case. Arroyo Salgado, a current judge, has said that Nisman was murdered and accused the prosecutor of conducting biased research into the case in order to demonstrate that Nisman committed suicide.
Forensic experts have differed on the cause of Nisman’s death. Many have said it will be difficult to establish one unified version of how Nisman died, with some experts believing it was suicide and others murder.
Fein has not yet released a final ruling. “I cannot determine for the moment whether it was a suicide or a homicide,” she said on March 6, when she convened the authors of the independent forensic report to examine their evidence. Some analysts believe that she wants to wait to issue the final ruling after the October presidential elections.
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