Argentinian court will now treat Alberto Nisman's death as a homicide investigation [View all]

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Argentinian court will now treat Alberto Nisman's death as a homicide investigation

Judge passes the dramatic case to federal court as a potential homicide,
citing a former spy chief’s testimony that Iran was possibly involved

Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Tuesday 1 March 2016 20.18 GMT

The Argentinian judge overseeing the investigation into the mysterious death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman has announced that she is passing the case to a federal court to be treated as a homicide investigation.

Judge Fabiana Palmaghina’s announcement came just hours after a former operations chief of the country’s disbanded spy agency testified in court that Alberto Nisman had been murdered because of his work.

Until now, Palmaghina had pursued the hypothesis that Nisman had killed himself, but in her ruling – made public on Tuesday afternoon – she cited a section of testimony by former spy chief Antonio Stiuso in which he suggested that Iran was involved in Nisman’s death.

“With the Iranians, it’s irrelevant whether or not you have bodyguards, because if you are a target, they study you, they study and get to know your movements. Having bodyguards is pointless when these people are your enemy,” Stiuso said during his appearance at a 17-hour appearance at a closed court on Monday.

“(Nisman’s) death was intimately linked to the work he was doing,” he said, according to a transcript of the judge’s ruling.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/01/argentina-judge-passes-case-of-alberto-nisman-death-to-federal-court