Argentine prosecutor found dead of gunshot

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentina’s government said Monday that a prosecutor who had accused President Cristina Fernandez of shielding Iranian suspects in the nation’s deadliest terror attack died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his locked Buenos Aires apartment, a declaration sure to be closely scrutinized.

Alberto Nisman, who had been investigating the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, was found in the bathroom of his apartment late Sunday, hours before he was to testify in a congressional hearing about the case.

Investigating prosecutor Viviana Fein said the preliminary autopsy found “no intervention” of others in Nisman’s death. However, Fein said she would not rule out the possibility that Nisman was “induced” to suicide, adding that the gun was not his.

“The firearm belonged to a collaborator of Nisman” who had given it to the prosecutor, Fein told Todo Noticias television channel.

According to the autopsy, Nisman had a bullet entry-wound on the right side of his head but there was no exit wound. His body was found inside the bathroom and blocking the door, and there were no signs of forced entry or robbery in the apartment, Fein said.

The findings left more questions than answers about the death, which came only five days after Nisman accused Fernandez and other officials of reaching a deal with Iran that shielded some officials from possible punishment for the attack.

Nisman was guarded by police because he had received threats. Late Sunday, agents alerted their superiors that he wasn’t answering phone calls, according to the Security Ministry statement. A .22 caliber handgun and a shell casing were found next to Nisman’s body.

Monday afternoon, the presidency ordered the declassification of the names of the agents that Nisman had demanded as part of his probe, apparently an attempt by the administration to show transparency and avoid any accusations of wrongdoing.

In a letter on her official website, Fernandez lamented Nisman’s death, saying it generated “stupor and questions.”

Congresswoman Cornelia Schmidt-Liermann said Congress met Monday afternoon despite Nisman’s absence, and many members signed a declaration urging a full investigation into Nisman’s death and insisting that the investigation continue.

Schmidt-Liermann and others who knew Nisman said he lived under constant threats on his life from Iranian agents and pressure from the Argentine government.

Nisman was appointed 10 years ago by Fernandez’s late husband, then-President Nestor Kirchner, to revive a floundering investigation into the bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association in Buenos Aires.

After years of inconclusive investigations and failed trials, an Argentine judge in 2006 accepted Nisman’s request to order the arrest of a former Iranian president, foreign minister and other officials. Interpol later put most of them on its most-wanted list.

But Argentina and Iran reached agreement in 2013 to jointly investigate the attack, a move viewed with skepticism by Jewish leaders who feared it would undermine Nisman’s probe.

Last week, Nisman accused Fernandez and other senior Argentine officials of agreeing not to punish at least two former Iranian officials in the case. He asked a judge to call Fernandez and others, including Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, for questioning.

“The president and her foreign minister took the criminal decision to fabricate Iran’s innocence to sate Argentina’s commercial, political and geopolitical interests,” Nisman said last week.

Within hours after news of Nisman’s death spread, a well-known group called “Indignant Argentines” called for demonstrations in several areas of Buenos Aires.