Argentinian Jews to appeal judge’s dismissal of case against Former President Kirchner over AMIA cover-up

The Argentinian Jewish community has resolved to appeal last week’s judicial decision to dismiss the case against former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner over her alleged role in a cover-up of Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre.

The terror attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AIMA) building in Buenos Aires on 18th July 1994 killed 85 people and wounded hundreds.

Last Thursday, a judge in the Argentine capital dismissed the case against Ms Kirchner, who is a former President and is currently serving as Vice President in the administration of President Alberto Fernandez, her former chief of staff.

In 2018, a federal judge ruled that Kirchner, the former foreign minister and other aides would be tried in connection with a 2013 agreement with Iran that whitewashed the Islamic Republic’s involvement in the bombing.

The existence of the pact was exposed by Alberto Nisman, the federal prosecutor leading the AMIA investigation who was found murdered in his Buenos Aires apartment in January 2015 just before he filed a formal complaint against the Kirchner government over the agreement. Ms Kirchner falsely portrayed his death as a suicide, and questions have long lingered over whether any of the defendants might have been implicated in the assassination.

The head of the Argentine umbrella Jewish organisation DAIA said that “We continue to demand justice and the bringing of the accused to trial,” and pledged that DAIA would appeal the decision.

The Jewish community has long been frustrated and intimidated in its search for justice in the bombing.

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