Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Argentina: President Cristina Fernandez case dismissed

by Enrique Krause and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Buenos Aires

1 hour ago


A federal judge in Argentina has dismissed a controversial case against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her foreign minister.
They had been accused of covering up alleged Iranian involvement in a bomb attack against a Jewish centre in 1994.
Judge Daniel Rafecas said that there was no merit to the accusation as no crime had occurred.
The accusation came from special prosecutor Alberto Nisman who was found dead last month in his flat.
Judge Rafecas said he was throwing out the case.
"The evidence gathered far from meets the minimal standard," said a statement from Argentina's judiciary system.
Judge Rafecas said there was no proof that an agreement signed by the Argentine government with Iran in 2013 was an attempt to shield the involvement of senior Iranian officials in the attack.
The agreement was never approved by Iran's parliament.

'Rogue agent'

Mr Nisman was due to testify in Congress against Ms Fernandez when his body was found.

The circumstances of his death have not been clarified.
President Fernandez said Mr Nisman been fed misleading information by a rogue intelligence agent in order to discredit her government.
She and her foreign minister, Hector Timerman, had been accused of acting to hide their involvement in the Amia Jewish centre bombing - Argentina's worst terrorist attack, in which 85 people died.
The lower house of the Argentine Congress has meanwhile approved a bill scrapping the country's secret agency, the Intelligence Secretariat.
The proposal was first announced days after Ms Nisman's death, on 18 January.
A new federal investigative agency, which will be accountable to Congress, will replace it.
Ms Fernandez said the change was overdue because the agency had remained largely untouched since the end of military rule in 1983.

The opposition accused the government of coming up with the proposal as a smoke screen for its involvement in the Amia bombing scandal.

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