Argentine Prosecutor Found Dead Day Before He Was Scheduled to Testify on Potential Argentine–Iranian Cooperation

Just one day before he was set to give damning testimony against Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead in what has been ruled a suicide.

Nisman was set to testify about President Kirchner’s role in covering up Iran and Hezbollah’s participation in the bombing attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires back in 1994. Her cooperation is believed to have been part of a deal that would bring cheap Iranian oil to a struggling Argentine economy.

The July 1994 attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires was among the deadliest anti-Semitic attacks since World War II. Alberto Nisman was commissioned to investigate the surrounding circumstances by then-President Néstor Kirchner, who is also the late husband of current President Cristina Kirchner. By early 1995, Nisman quickly identified the government of Iran as ordering and directing the attack and a militia of Hezbollah operatives as having carried it out.

It was only in the last week that Nisman leveled the allegations of conspiracy against President Kirchner. He fully understood the severity of these charges; after officially making the claim, he is reported to have said, “I might get out of this dead.”

While his death was ruled a suicide, there is precedent in Argentina for political executions to be ruled as such. Other suspicious deaths have surrounded investigations of government corruption before. In 1990, the death of a former top customs office charged with investigating a series of irregularities was initially ruled a suicide. The cause of death was later changed to murder after an autopsy concluded that he had been struck in the face before receiving the fatal gunshot wound.

Many political figures in Argentina and the United States are calling for the timely investigation of the mysterious circumstances surrounding Nisman’s death. Senator Marco Rubio (R–FL) released a statement yesterday calling for a credible and transparent investigation of Nisman’s death and a review of Iran’s penetrating influence in the Latin American region. Said Senator Rubio, “One cannot help but suspect foul play.”

Nathaniel Mortensen is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please click here.