A federal judge has asked Argentina’s Senate to allow the arrest of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for treason, corruption, and charges related to the Iranian Regime’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.

Kirchner, who served as President from 2007 to 2015, was set to begin a term a senator on Sunday, which would give her immunity from arrest.

The judge, Claudio Bonadio, argued that if she remained free, she could “hinder judicial actions as well as the discovery of the truth.”

A Senate committee has 60 days to consider his request, while the full Senate has 180 days to vote on it.

Assassination

Argentina is also investigating the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, in 2015, who was killed mere hours before he was due to present evidence that Kirchner was collaborating with the Iranian Regime to cover up evidence about the bombing.

The reason for the illicit collaboration? Kirchner agreed to shield Iranian officials implicated in the attack from investigation in order to get an Iranian oil deal.

In September, forensic experts found that Nisman had been murdered which contradicted a previous investigation conducted whilst Kirchner was in office which ruled a suicide as the likely cause of death.

The Iranian Regime has a long history in committing assassinations via its proxy groups to silence those who oppose their rule or are about to expose them, as can be seen in the death of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was murdered by Iran-backed Houthis at the beginning of December, and the assassination plots against Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri by the Iran-backed Hezbollah- that caused him to resign at the beginning of November.

Nisman’s theory

Bonadio clearly believes that Nisman’s theory is legally credible, noting that there is enough evidence to charge and her former allies with treason because they sought “impunity for the Iranian nationals accused of the attack on the [community centre, which was the headquarters of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina or AMIA] and to normalize relations between the two states.”

In 2013, during Kirchner’s presidency, Argentina and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding regarding a joint investigation of the bombing. The flaw in this plan is that you can not expect criminals to investigate themselves.

The agreement never came into effect and was declared unconstitutional in 2015.

Ariel Cohen Sabban, the head of the Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas, a group that is close to AMIA, said: “The detentions show that Nisman’s complaint had solid elements. It is a revindication of Nisman’s work.”

Hopefully, a full investigation into the bombing will now be authorised and the Iranian Regime will face charges for their role.

Source » ncr-iran