Jewish Prosecutor Alberto Nisman Was Murdered, Argentine Federal Judge Rules
Connected: Nisman was known for his close ties Argentina’s intelligence services. Image by Reuters
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — A federal judge in Argentina said that AMIA Jewish center bombing prosecutor Alberto Nisman was murdered.
It is the first time since Nisman’s death in January 2015 that the case has official been classified as murder. Others have said that Nisman committed suicide in the bathroom of his Buenos Aires apartment.
Judge Julian Ercolini on Tuesday in a 656-page ruling said the gunshot that killed Jewish prosecutor Alberto Nisman “was not a suicide, and was brought about by a third party and in a painful manner.”
The decision also charged Diego Lagomarsino, a former employee of Nisman’s, as an accessory to murder.
Following Nisman’s death, Lagomarsino said he went to the prosecutor’s apartment to give him a “very old” .22 caliber pistol to protect himself after Nisman expressed fears that he was being targeted by supporters of then-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Hours later, Nisman was found dead by a bullet from that gun fired at point-blank range above his right ear. Prior to Tuesday, Lagomarsino had been charged only with lending the pistol to Nisman. The judge also noted that Lagomarsino was the last known person to enter Nisman´s apartment.”
Lagomarsino, an IT technician, will remain under surveillance with an electronic anklet. The judge also froze his bank accounts.
The judge on Tuesday also charged four police guards who were in charge of Nisman´s safety with “aggravated concealment” and “failure to comply with the duties of a public official.”
The investigation continues. When it concludes, Ercolini will present the case to a panel of three judges that will conduct a courtroom trial and arrive at a sentence.
Nisman’s body was found on Jan. 18, 2015, hours before he was to present evidence to Argentine lawmakers that Kirchner covered up Iran’s role in the attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that left 85 dead and hundreds wounded.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
