Natalio Alberto Nisman (5 December 1963 – 18 January 2015) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

lawyer who worked as a federal prosecutor, noted for being the chief investigator of the 1994 car bombing of a Jewish center in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, which killed 85 people, the worst terrorist attack in Argentina's history. On 18 January 2015, Nisman was found dead at his home in Buenos Aires, one day before he was scheduled to report on his findings, with supposedly incriminating evidence against high-ranking officials of the then-current Argentinian government including former president

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and politician who has served as the Vice President of Argentina since 2019. She also served as the President ...

, regarding the

Memorandum of understanding between Argentina and Iran Argentina and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in 2013 for a joint investigation of the AMIA terrorist attack. The full name was Memorandum of understanding between the Government of Argentina and the Government of Islamic Republic of ...

. Nisman's death was initially ruled a suicide by a group of forensic experts appointed by Argentina's Supreme Court in 2015. In 2017, Nisman's death was later determined to have been a

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

by a forensic group of the

Gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

. In December 2017, Cristina Kirchner was indicted for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

by judge

Claudio Bonadio Claudio Bonadio (1 February 1956 – 4 February 2020) was an Argentine judge, who was in charge of Federal Criminal and Correctional Court No. 11 since 1994. In that role he intervened in causes of strong impact, some of which involved important ...

.Argentina prosecutor Alberto Nisman was killed, judge rules
BBC, December 27, 2017 In March 2018, it was announced that she would be put on trial for an alleged cover-up of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

's role in the

AMIA bombing The AMIA bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; ), a Jewish Community Centre. Executed as a suicidal attack, a bomb-laden van was driven into the AMIA buildi ...

(the "treason" charge was later dropped from the accusation) through the intended never-ratified Memorandum of understanding between Argentina and Iran.ARGENTINIAN PROSECUTOR NISMAN WAS MURDERED, COURT CONFIRMS
Jerusalem Post, June 2, 2018 After analyzing the claims of the defendants in the case for the never-ratified Memorandum with Iran, on October 7, 2021, the Federal Oral Court 8 declared the case

null and void In law, void means of no legal effect. An action, document, or transaction which is void is of no legal effect whatsoever: an absolute nullity—the law treats it as if it had never existed or happened. The term void ''ab initio'', which means " ...

. The judges concluded that there was no crime in the signing of the agreement with Iran, and declared a judicial dismissal of Cristina Kirchner and the other defendants.

Biography

Early life and career

Alberto Nisman was born to a middle-class

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in Buenos Aires. He started his career as a prosecutor in

Morón, Buenos Aires Morón () is a city in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, capital of the Morón ''partido'', located in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, at . Located 20 km (13 mi) west of Downtown Buenos Aires, Morón is easily reac ...

. He was married to judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, with whom he had two daughters. Nisman was a non-observant Jew. He graduated from the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

, and served as a law clerk at the National Tribunals Courthouse. He was later appointed prosecutor in the suburban

, district.

AMIA Special Prosecutor

Nisman was appointed Special Prosecutor in charge of the

investigation on 13 September 2004. The probe into the 1994 terrorist attack against the

Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; ) is a Jewish Community Centre located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established as ''Jevrá Kedushá'' in 1894, its mission was conceived to promote the well-being and development of Jewish life in Ar ...

(AMIA) had been marked by

judicial misconduct Judicial misconduct occurs when a judge acts in ways that are considered unethical or otherwise violate the judge's obligations of impartial conduct. Actions that can be classified as judicial misconduct include: conduct prejudicial to the effect ...

, and had reached an impasse. On October 25, 2006, Nisman formally accused the government of

of directing the AMIA bombing, and the

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

militia of carrying it out. According to the prosecution, Argentina had been targeted by Iran after Buenos Aires' decision to suspend a nuclear technology transfer contract to Tehran. In November 2007, following the accusation,

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

published the names of six individuals officially accused for their role in the terrorist attack. They were entered in the Interpol red notice list: Imad Fayez Moughnieh, Ali Fallahijan, Mohsen Rabbani, Ahmad Reza Asghari,

Ahmad Vahidi Ahmad Vahidi ( fa, احمد وحیدی, born 27 June 1958) is an Iranian military commander of the Revolutionary Guards and current Minister of Interior since August 25, 2021. In addition, he is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Cou ...

and

Mohsen Rezaee Mohsen Rezaee ( fa, محسن رضایی, born Sabzevar Rezaee Mirgha'ed ( fa, سبزوار رضایی میرقائد) on 1 September 1954) is an Iranian conservative politician affiliated with the Resistance Front of Islamic Iran and senior milit ...

. Nisman asked in 2008 for the detention of the former President

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...

and Judge

Juan José Galeano ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, who first presided over the AMIA case until his removal in 2004.

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

revealed that US diplomats considered that Nisman may have done this so as to be in good standing with President

. He was considered a possible candidate for General Prosecutor of the Nation, after the resignation of

Esteban Righi Esteban Righi (4 September 1938 – 5 March 2019) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as Minister of the Interior and Attorney General.Boudougate scandal in 2012. Santiago O'Donnell, a journalist and writer who published the books ''Argenleaks'' and ''Politileaks'', both of which analyse the Wikileaks cable leak concerning Argentina's foreign and domestic policies, stated that during his investigation, he found clear and strong ties and "friendship" between Nisman, the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

and the Embassy of Argentina in Washington, D.C."Nisman told me that Stiusso, who is the link to the CIA and the Mossad, gives him all the information"
Radio Nacional Argentina According to O'Donnell, the cables revealed Nisman had received recommendation from the US embassy to not investigate the

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

clues in the AMIA bombing and the local connection of the terrorist attack,The prosecutor, the embassy and the secret services/El fiscal, la embajada y los servicios
2015-01-20, '' Pagina/12'' Nisman in Wikileaks/Nisman en Wikileaks
2015-01-15, '' Pagina/12'' and that he was instead to assume certain guilt of Iranian suspects, although no trial had been conducted.The Wikileaks cables on the AMIA case and the crack in the media - By Rodrigo Lloret
01/28/2015, ''

Perfil ''Perfil'' is an Argentine weekly newspaper based in Buenos Aires and refounded in 2005. History The newspaper was first launched by Jorge Fontevecchia on 9 May 1998 as a daily newspaper, but poor sales forced its closure on 31 July of the sa ...

'' AMIA case: "Nisman went to the US embassy and they told him he had to accuse Iran"
01.15.2015, ''

Télam Télam is the Argentine national news agency founded in 1945. It provides news and information to about 300 subscribers, including government entities and national and international media. It operates as a state enterprise. Overview Télam was ...

'' Nisman rejected the 2013 memorandum of understanding signed with Iran to investigate the case. Two years later, he accused President Cristina Kirchner, Foreign Minister

Héctor Timerman Héctor Marcos Timerman (16 December 1953 – 30 December 2018) was an Argentine journalist, politician, human rights activist and diplomat. He served as his country's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2015, during the presidency of Cristi ...

and other politicians of covering up Iranian suspects in the case. The report was largely based on wire tap reports of close allies of Kirchner alleged to be "clearly acting on orders from her" and others, including Mohsen Rabbani, a former cultural attaché at Iran's embassy in Buenos Aires. The accusation was also based on his stated belief that the administration had petitioned

to lift Red Notices against numerous Iranian officials during said negotiations. The Secretary-General of Interpol at the time,

Ronald Noble Ronald Kenneth "Ron" Noble (born September 24, 1956) is an American law enforcement officer who served as the secretary-general of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) from 2000 to 2014. He was the organization's first A ...

, noted on 15 January 2015 that no such requests had been made; "on each occasion that you and I spoke about the Interpol red notices issued in connection to the AMIA case, you stated that Interpol should keep the red notices effective," Noble wrote in an email addressed to Timerman. On the same day of Nisman's death, a recent interview with Noble was published by the newspaper '' Página/12''; when asked about Nisman's belief and affirmation of the lifting of the Red Notices, Noble declared: "Prosecutor Nisman's assertion is false." Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas dismissed the complaint, resubmitted to the courts by Federal Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita, on 26 February. "The judge believes the minimum conditions to launch a criminal investigation have not been met, based on what the prosecutor presented," the Judicial Information Centre (CIJ) said in a statement. Rafecas noted in his ruling that "none of the two hypotheses of a crime put forward by prosecutor Pollicita in his writ stand up to the minimum level of scrutiny." Pollicita did not succeed Nisman as chief AMIA prosecutor; this office was headed as of 13 February by Sabrina Namer, Patricio Sabadini, Roberto Salum, and the prosecution task force coordinator, Juan Murray.

Death

Nisman was found dead at his home in

Puerto Madero Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land ...

, Buenos Aires, on 18 January 2015 next to a

Bersa Bersa is an Argentine arms manufacturer, located in the city of Ramos Mejía in Argentina.Bersa S.A. , Contact
...

Thunder 22 handgun, just hours before he was due to appear before

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

to discuss the allegations, and six days after publishing the 288-page report. According to the autopsy, Nisman had died the previous afternoon and had an entry bullet wound on the right temple with no exit wound. His body was found inside the bathroom, blocking the door, and there were no signs of forced entry or robbery in the apartment. Nonetheless, a locksmith who arrived at Nisman's apartment was quoted as stating that he found a hidden entrance to the apartment open upon his arrival.

Investigation

The death of Nisman is under investigation by federal judge Emma Palmaghini and special prosecutor Viviana Fein. A 2017 report determined that the cause of death was murder, a conclusion which federal courts accepted in 2018. Nisman was found next to a .22 caliber

Bersa Bersa is an Argentine arms manufacturer, located in the city of Ramos Mejía in Argentina.Bersa S.A. , Contact
...

gun, which has been shown to have been the weapon used to kill him. A single shot had been fired

point blank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel paral ...

to his head. Nisman had two registered guns, but this gun did not belong to him; it belonged to his assistant Diego Lagomarsino, who lent it to him. Of the other two guns, one was transferred in 2009, and the other has not been found. A

paraffin test Gunshot residue (GSR), also known as cartridge discharge residue (CDR), gunfire residue (GFR), or firearm discharge residue (FDR), consists of all of the particles that are expelled from the muzzle of a gun following the discharge of a bullet. It ...

did not reveal

gunshot residue Gunshot residue (GSR), also known as cartridge discharge residue (CDR), gunfire residue (GFR), or firearm discharge residue (FDR), consists of all of the particles that are expelled from the muzzle of a gun following the discharge of a bullet. It ...

on Nisman's hands, suggesting that he may not have fired the gun himself. The results of such a test, however, may not be conclusive, as the gun involved is of small caliber and may leave no trace. His body did not have signs of a physical attack and Fein commented that there was nothing suggesting the presence of other people at the crime scene. Fein announced on 9 February 2015, however, that DNA from a second person was found on a coffee cup in the kitchen sink. It is still unknown whether Lagomarsino was the last person to see Nisman alive, and Fein is investigating the security tapes to clarify that point. Nisman's last phone calls are also under investigation. His bodyguards had not been present since the previous Friday, and returned that Sunday at noon. Although they received no reply from Nisman, who was dead, they did not report the lack of communication immediately or call 911, and refused the help of medics from the SAME (which deals with medical emergencies). Nisman had already submitted his complaint and wiretap transcripts to Judge Ariel Lijo on 14 January. It was reported, both in the media and in comments to relatives, that he felt confident about his performance. Nisman had also written a grocery list for the following day, which was also found at the house. One of his last

WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...

messages, for his relatives and friends, said "Estoy mejor que nunca y más temprano que tarde la verdad triunfa" (Spanish for "I'm better than ever and sooner than later the truth prevails"). Some who knew Nisman well, including Congresswoman Cornelia Schmidt-Liermann, said that he had been living under constant threats on his life since he began his investigation 10 years earlier."Mystery clouds death of Argentine prosecutor set to testify"
''Washington Post'', January 20, 2015 Fein announced on 3 February 2015 that Nisman had drafted warrants for the arrest of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and

, Argentina's Foreign Minister, before his death. The 26-page document was found in the garbage in Nisman's apartment. Senior

Secretariat of Intelligence Secretariat of Intelligence ( es, Secretaría de Inteligencia, SIDE) was the premier intelligence agency of the Argentina, Argentine Republic and head of its Sistema de Inteligencia Nacional, National Intelligence System. Chaired by the ''Secre ...

officer Antonio "Jaime" Stiuso, who conducted many of the wiretaps ordered by Nisman, had been dismissed in a December 2014 agency shakeup and had persuaded Nisman to dismiss his 10-man security detail days before his death. Stiuso presented himself on 18 February for questioning by Special Prosecutor Fein after initially evading the subpoenas. Facing unrelated charges of

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

, he reportedly fled the country for neighboring

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

a week later in a black pickup registered to one of the companies allegedly involved in the smuggling operation. In June 2015 a video was released of the crime scene investigation showing police allegedly tampering with evidence by neglecting certain precautionary measures. The incident was first ruled as a suicide by a group of forensic experts appointed by Argentina's Supreme Court in 2015 (during Fernández de Kirchner's government), and then as a

by a forensic group of

in 2018, under Macri's government. That same year Nisman's assistant was accused as the prime suspect of Nisman's alleged homicide after providing the murder or suicide weapon and is currently being prosecuted on conspiracy-to-commit-murder charges by a federal judge. Fernandez de Kirchner faced unrelated corruption charges.

Private investigation

In early March 2015, a private investigation that was initiated by Nisman's family concluded that Nisman's death was not suicide but was an act of homicide. The report, which was performed by experts of Judge Arroyo Salgado, included photos of Nisman's body and was about 100 pages in length. On December 21, 2018, Judge Arroyo Salgado resigned to be part of the

Complaint In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

in Nisman's death trial.

Reactions

Public protests took place following his death, accusing the Argentine government of corruption. Suspicions were raised by the rapidity with which the incident was officially declared a suicide. President Kirchner reversed her initial statement and declared on 22 January 2015 that she believed that it was not a case of suicide. Nisman's death caused an international stir and captivated media attention throughout the world. A letter was delivered by historian

Richard Gott Richard Willoughby Gott (born 28 October 1938),Winchester College: A Register. Edited by P.S.W.K. McClure and R.P. Stevens, on behalf of the Wardens and Fellows of Winchester College. 7th edition, 2014. pp. 271 (Short Half 1952 list heading) & ...

and 29 other British journalists, artists, and intellectuals to the Argentine Embassy in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

rejecting the "political use" of either the AMIA bombing or Nisman's death. In the week following Nisman's death President Kirchner declared her determination to dissolve the Argentine

in favor of a Federal Intelligence Agency, an agency with new functions and closely controlled by the General Prosecutor's office.

Controversies about his life

Alleged political contacts with the CIA, FBI and US Embassy

Santiago O'Donnell, an Argentine journalist and writer who published the books ''Argenleaks'' and ''Politileaks'', both of which analyse the Wikileaks cable leak concerning Argentina's foreign and domestic policies, stated that during his investigation, he found clear and strong ties and "friendship" between Nisman, the

and the Embassy of Argentina in Washington, D.C.Santiago O`Donnell: “"Nisman used to bring forward his rulings to the US Embassy and he took his drafts so it could correct them."”
Radio Nacional Calafate According to O'Donnell, the cables revealed Nisman had received recommendation from the US embassy to not investigate the

clues in the AMIA bombing and the local connection of the terrorist attack, and that he was instead to assume certain guilt of Iranian suspects, although no trial had been conducted. Argentine journalist Facundo Pastor accused Nisman claiming of having longstanding working relationship several USA security agencies, including the FBI. Pastor also states that in the light of his revelations it seems highly plausible that Nisman, instead of have been murdered by Argentina officials as has been widely assumed by the political opponents of Kirchner, committed suicide after all. His main argument for that position consists of the assumption that Nisman might have been purposely abandoned by the FBI and abstained from that agency's supposedly conclusive evidence against Kirchner, in the days leading up to his announcement of prosecuting Kirchner and Timerman. Pastor claims that Nisman might have been abandoned by his USA security contacts because the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

shifted its political priorities from a severe anti-Iran policy towards a negotiated nuclear deal and more relaxed diplomatic ties with Iran as a consequence. Analysts claim that there was a smear campaign against Nisman for his involvement as prosecutor in the AMIA bombing case.

Alleged money laundering and undeclared earnings

Following the emerging data in the judicial inquiry into the death of Nisman, the federal prosecutor Juan Zoni asked the judge of the same jurisdiction Rodolfo Canicoba Corral to summon a statement from some relatives or close friends of Nisman people. The order included the mother, Sara Garfunkel, her sister Sandra, former ITF AMIA Diego Lagomarsino, and the businessman Alejandro Picón. The prosecutor said the four defendants have been figureheads of Nisman and that Nisman's real estate was not justified according to the income he received while in office. According to prosecutor Zoni, among those assets that were appointed to third parties are: * The

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

Q3 car used by Nisman, which was in the name of Palermopack, the company owned by Alejandro Picón. * The undeclared account in

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

bank (New York), with an amount of more than U$S 670,000 attributed to the name of Diego Lagomarsino (Nisman's employee), Sandra Nisman (his sister) and Sara Garfunkel (Nisman's mother). * A trust for two departments with two parking garages, which are named after Sara Garfunkel; and two lots of sea farms (

chacra Chacra is an Andean term (a loanword from the Quechua word ''chakra'', meaning "farm, agricultural field, or land sown with seed";Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary)

s) in

Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...

which are also named after Sara Garfunkel. Judge Canicoba Corral made the request and set dates for the declarations, but before they were carried out, the Federal Chamber ordered - at the request of Sara Garfunkel - that Canicoba Corral cease to attend the case and that Judge

intervene. The reason for the withdrawal was an alleged partiality of the Judge Canicoba Corral, who had previously criticized Nisman and had made remarks in the media assuming Nisman's

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

to be almost certain. Diego Lagomarsino, the man who declared that he had given Alberto Nisman the gun from which the mortal shot came out, stated that every month he gave his boss 50 percent of his salary, against his will. He explained to the Justice that he gave the money to Nisman in his hand, in the department of Le Parc of the latter, and without witnesses. Lagomarsino also confirmed that he was co-owning with Nisman a bank account at the Merrill Lynch Bank of New York and that he made money transfers to pay the expenses of a field in Uruguay. The data on Nisman's estate were provided two months after the death, in a letter signed by Lagomarsino and his lawyers and presented to the prosecutor Viviana Fein. Nisman's best friend, Gustavo Perednik, published two books about Nisman: To Kill Without a Trace (2009) and To Die for Argentina (2015) after his murder.

Human Rights violations in La Tablada barracks

The 1989 attack on La Tablada barracks was an assault on the military

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

located in

La Tablada La Tablada is a city in Argentina. It is located in La Matanza Partido and is part of the Greater Buenos Aires metro area. Overview La Tablada initially developed around the Buenos Aires Western Railway ( es, Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires) ...

, in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, by 40 members of '' Movimiento Todos por la Patria'' (MTP), an Argentine

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

urban guerrilla An urban guerrilla is someone who fights a government using unconventional warfare or domestic terrorism in an urban environment. Theory and history The urban guerrilla phenomenon is essentially one of industrialised society, resting both ...

group commanded by former ERP leader

Enrique Gorriarán Merlo Enrique Haroldo Gorriarán Merlo (18 October 1941 – 22 September 2006) was an Argentine guerrilla, born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province. His family was affiliated with the Radical Civic Union, but at the age of 27 Gorriar ...

. 39 people were killed and 60 injured by the time the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...

retook the barracks. The MTP carried out the assault under the alleged pretense of preventing a military coup supposedly planned for the end of January 1989 by the ''

Carapintadas The ' ( en, Painted Faces) were a group of mutineers in the Argentine Army, who took part in various uprisings between 1987 and 1990 during the presidencies of Raúl Alfonsín and Carlos Menem in Argentina. The rebellions, while at first thought ...

'', a group of

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

military officers opposed to the investigations concerning Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship (1976-1983), its widespread Human Rights abuses, and the use of

State terrorism State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism which a state conducts against another state or against its own citizens.Martin, 2006: p. 111. Definition There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper def ...

against civilians. In 1989, Gerardo Larrambebere (then federal judge of Morón), appointed Nisman as the secretary in charge of the investigation on the allegations of

forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...

of Iván Ruiz and José Díaz, two of the guerrilla members who participated during the fight on La Tablada barracks. Nisman filed the case due to "lack of evidence". In 1997, the

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and Portuguese CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme'', ...

ruled that Ruiz and Díaz had been victims of crimes against humanity and that the Argentine State and its Juditial power had failed to comply with its duty to investigate and punish the people responsible. Twenty years later the case was reactivated and the then federal judge of Morón ordered the prosecution and capture of soldiers suspected of having committed the crimes. In December 2018, during the third hearing of the trial for the human rights violations committed during the recovery of the La Tablada barracks in 1989, a surprising revelation occurred when two soldiers who had participated in the events claimed under oath that Iván Ruiz and José Díaz were captured alive, tortured and then disappeared by the Army (known as ''

Desaparecidos An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a State (polity), state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or po ...

'' in Argentina).''Página/12''
"It is a cause of State terrorism"
12-15-2018, '' Página/12'' But one of them went further: César Ariel Quiroga, at the time the driver of an ambulance inside the Tablada barracks, reported that he was forced to sign a statement with facts that he did not see and which cleared the name of the military in the disappearance of Ruiz and Díaz. That false testimonial bears the signature of Alberto Nisman, then secretary of the Morón court. During the 2018 trial, Quiroga thanked the court for the "opportunity" to speak up and then explained that in 1990, when he was 23 years old, he signed a testimonial statement before Nisman that "was not" true to what he had declared and that an "auditor of the Army", present in the court of Gerardo Larrambebere had taken him aside before signing, and asked him to consent to the "official version so as not to damage the institution" (i.e. the Argentine Army). That statement was taken in August 1990, in the court that ran Larrambebere, with the secretariat of Nisman: "They gave me two sheets to sign, which they said it was a procedure I had to do in case someone claimed something", Quiroga explained, and he showed the copies that were delivered to him at that time, which are now part of the file and were later submitted to the expert's report, according to Matías Alejandro Mancini, president of Federal Court Nº4 of San Martín. "I signed it because of my young age, because I had been in the institution for a short time, due to pressure and fear", Quiroga added.

Sexual harassment lawsuit

In March 1991, María Laura S., a 26-year-old lawyer, reported that for eight years she had received anonymous calls so insistent that they prevented the use of her home phone line.Harassment and pornographic stories: the unknown Nisman, by Rodis Recalt
09-20-2018, Revista Noticias The caller refused to cut off the communication and the house phone was blocked. The stalker threatened her and spoke obscenities of all kinds. According to the plaintiff's deposition: "Among the man's descriptions was an insistent obsession with genitality and the size and firmness of the penis". María Laura requested the intervention of her telephone line in order to demonstrate the aggressive and violent content of the calls. The federal judge in charge of the case was the current court of appeals's Judge Martín Irurzun, who was at the time the head of Federal Court No. 5. The prosecutor was Gabriel Cavallo, who later became a federal judge and today works as a private attorney. Judge Irurzun ordered the telephone intervention of the victim's line. In July 1991, he received the first listening sheets, along with several cassettes. The investigation continued, but there was a problem: in 1991, the crime known as "

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

" did not yet exist in

Argentine legislation Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

. Therefore, they ended up prosecuting Nisman for "nuisance in telephone communications", since the caller left his phone off the hook after the communications and blocked incoming calls. In the file it was verified that the calls were made from the home of Alberto Nisman's father and that the voice was from Alberto Nisman, who at the time worked in the courts of Morón. An article by '' Revista Noticias'' published some of the transcripts found in Juditial records and published in its entirety by journalist Pablo Duggan in his book ''Who killed Nisman?''. The seriousness of the recordings was such that, in those years, two judges tried to mediate with the prosecutor Cavallo so that he "helped" Nisman emerge from this situation successfully. The cause prescribed, but the records remained in place. In a 2015 book by journalist and news editor Daniel Santoro, it is explained that the charges against Nisman were dropped since it was never wrought to a proper trial for a long time: "Meanwhile, the AMIA prosecutors learned that an attractive woman lawyer had filed a charge of sexual harassment against Nisman. His judicial colleagues were skeptical until they heard the voice recorded on the accusing lawyer’s phone; it was Nisman’s. Thanks to judicial bureaucracy and perhaps favors from cronies in the court system, the statute of limitations had lapsed, and the charge was filed away". In 2018, Lagomarsino stated: “I worked a long time with Nisman, but did not know him. I started to see things that broke the image I had of him, like that he harassed a minor or La Tablada uman Rights' violations. A 2018 article by Mariana Escalada and Agustín Ronconi showed pictures of the judicial record that present a transcript of one of the phone calls, while adding: "Many transcripts are irreproducible due to the pornographic expressions of the man who at the time was insistently calling the young woman lawyer isman's expressions. In January 2020, journalist Pablo Duggan stated on a program for the

cable news Cable news channels are television networks devoted to television news broadcasts, with the name deriving from the proliferation of such networks during the 1980s with the advent of cable television. In the United States, the first nationwide ca ...

channel C5N that Nisman's sexual harassment was indeed real -showing also the files in the Ministry of Justice as evidence-, adding that the harassment of a young woman by Nisman was systematic and mostly done everyday by phone calls; the charges were never wrought to trial, but, according to Duggan, it was one of the secrets Nisman tried to hide away during his entire career, specially in his last days. Duggan also adds that when a judge and a politician were pressuring prosecutor Gabriel Cavallo to stop the investigation against Nisman, Cavallo made them listen to a minute of the recordings: they stopped listening and left the room while saying that "it was disgusting"; Duggan also concluded by saying "Nisman could not be convicted because at the time we rgentinahad no laws concerning sexual harassment".

Society and culture

On September 23, 2019, a

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

-produced documentary miniseries premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. This docuseries, titled ''Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy'' was directed by British filmmaker Justin Webster and was made available on the streaming service in January 2020. A documentary which aired in Israel in June 2020 called ("Fact") alleges that a former Israeli

Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...

agent provided incriminating evidence to Nisman in January 2015 reputedly proving that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was part of a cover-up of Iran's involvement in the AMIA bombing.

References

External links

Nisman's charges against the President and Foreign Minister
''Página/12'' (PDF)
Archive: ''Página/12'' - 13 January 2015, Nisman's charges against the President and Foreign Minister
WebCite query result
Death of a Prosecutor
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''
Nisman's denunciation

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nisman, Alberto 1963 births 2015 deaths Argentine Jews Argentine people of German-Jewish descent Argentine prosecutors Assassinated Argentine people Male murder victims People from Buenos Aires University of Buenos Aires alumni Unsolved murders in Argentina