A federal judge in Argentina has been appointed to investigate accusations made by Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor who died in mysterious circumstances last month, that President Cristina Kirchner conspired with Iran to cover up its involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre in which 85 people were murdered.
Daniel Rafecas was handed the case on Wednesday by the head of the country's appeal court after two other judges had refused to take it on.
Mr Rafecas previously investigated Ms Kirchner’s vice-president for corruption before being removed following accusations he had acted in a biased manner against the accused.
His appointment came a day after it was confirmed Mr Nisman had drafted an arrest warrant for Ms Kirchner, but subsequently decided not to include it in the charges he presented against her on January 14th.
The draft warrant was found in a bin at Mr Nisman's apartment and published by the Clarín newspaper on Sunday, sparking a furious government reaction. At first officials denied its existence but were forced to backtrack on Tuesday.
‘Rubbish information’
Acknowledging a draft had been found, Argentina’s cabinet chief
Jorge Capitanich
nevertheless said it was meaningless.
“Information found in a bin is rubbish. Rubbish belongs in the bin, not in the judiciary,” he told reporters.
The president has called Mr Nisman’s accusations against her “absurd” and claims he was manipulated by rogue spies who then killed him to smear her. Since then she has announced the abolition of the country’s controversial intelligence secretariat.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor investigating Mr Nisman’s mysterious death in his apartment on January 18th has been forced to postpone her holidays later this month after both government and opposition leaders were left incredulous that she planned to take a vacation in the middle of her inquiry into the country’s most politically contentious death in recent decades.
Administration criticism
Viviana Fein
said she will now continue to head up the investigation, scotching rumours that she was seeking to be removed from the case following criticism from the administration after she contradicted the president’s version of Mr Nisman’s movements in the days before his death.
A separate investigation into Mr Nisman's death is being mounted by his former wife Sandra Arroyo Salgado, herself a federal judge who has appointed her own team to investigate whether her former husband took his own life or was murdered.
On Wednesday it was revealed that, days before Mr Nisman’s body was found, Ms Arroyo Salgado received a magazine with him on the cover with a small black circle drawn on his head.
Mr Nisman had reportedly been receiving threats since he claimed Ms Kirchner, as part of a controversial agreement with Iran in 2013, secretly agreed to help senior Iranian officials avoid responsibility for the 1994 AMIA bombing in return for preferential oil deals.
But Ms Kirchner's officials have pointed out that since the agreement there has been no increase in bilateral trade with Iran, and a request to Interpol to arrest leading Iranian officials for their involvement in the bombing has not been rescinded.
A Lebanese suicide bomber from Hizbullah carried out the attack, but at whose behest has long been debated, with Libya, Syria and Iran all cited as possible culprits.
