Buenos Aires, January 19 (RHC), -- The Argentine state prosecutor who was investigating the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, has been found dead in his apartment, local media reported on Monday.
Alberto Nisman, 51, was expected to take part in a closed-door hearing in Congress today to reveal the details of allegations that involved President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman.
The body of Nisman was found in the bathroom of his apartment in the Buenos Aires City neighbourhood of Puerto Madero late on Sunday.
Nisman reportedly committed suicide, according to sources, who say he was found in a pool of blood. By mid-morning the autopsy had begun, with the official cause of death expected to be announced over the days ahead, according to Viviana Fein, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation.
Nisman, who was appointed 10 years ago by the by the president’s late husband Nestor Kirchner, had
accused President Cristina Fernandez of trying to cover-up an Iranian role in the 1994 bombing at the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina's worst ever terrorist attack.
Nisman had accused Fernandez de Kirchner of ordering impunity for the Iranian suspects in the 1994 AMIA attack in order to boost trade with Tehran. According to Nisman, Argentina wanted to import oil and export grains Iran.
Argentine courts have accused Iran of sponsoring the 1994 bombing, a charge Tehran denies. In 2007, Argentine authorities secured Interpol arrest warrants for five Iranians and a Lebanese over the bombing.
The cover up allegations have been strongly criticized by the Argentinean government and by the Association of Relatives of Victims of the 1994 AMIA bombing and the 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.
“The prosecutor should have by now investigated and clarified the attack on the AMIA, but 10 years after his appointment he had not provided any clarity, instead, he became involved in a media show of political resonance about the accusations against the president,” the Jewish association said, claiming the late prosecutor had been using the investigation of the AMIA massacre to wage domestic political battles.
