Where is Jonathan Creek when Argentina needs him?
Anyone who has been following politics in Argentina may be aware of the enormous political significance of a death in a locked room which seems almost like something out of a Jonathan Creek TV story. There is a report on the incident on The Economist website here.
Alberto Nisman, an Argentine Federal Prosecutor, was found dead by a single gunshot in his bathroom. There was a pistol by his side and the front door to his apartment was locked on the inside.
A clear case of suicide? Apparently.
Yet there was no suicide note, and a few hours later he had been due to present to a congressional committee evidence for his accusation that Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, had tried to obstruct the investigation of Argentina’s worst terrorist act, the bombing of a Jewish centre in 1994.
No one has yet been convicted for the bombing in Buenos Aires, in which 86 people died and hundreds were injured. Argentina’s Jewish community believes that Iran planned the attack and that Hizbullah agents carried it out for them. So does the state of Israel.
Argentina has issued arrest warrants for Iranian officials thought to have masterminded the massacre.
Mr Nisman was the chief investigator of the bombing and had made some serious accusations. In a 300-page document filed with a court on January 14th, he claimed that Ms Fernández, the foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, and others had opened secret negotiations with Iran to absolve the Iranian suspects in return for a deal under which Argentina could swap grain for oil.
One result of those talks, Mr Nisman said, was the “truth commission” that Argentina and Iran agreed to set up in 2013, which infuriated the Jewish community. For reasons that are unclear, the proposed deal between Argentina and Iran fell apart.
Ms Fernández’s spokesman dismissed the prosecutor’s allegations as “ridiculous”, and Mr Timerman denied them. But before Mr Nisman had a chance to present them in Congress he was found dead in his bathroom, beside a .22-calibre pistol and a bullet casing. Papers related to his congressional meeting were unfurled on his desk.
The investigating prosecutor said that “no other person” had been involved in the shooting, but did not rule out the possibility of “induced suicide”. Associates say Nisman feared for his life but showed no signs of contemplating suicide.
Clearly it is now important that Mr Nisman's death is properly investigated in such a way that everyone can believe justice is done, whatever the outcome of the investigation. That's going to be more than a little difficult,
According to a recent poll by Latinobarómetro, only a third of Argentines have any confidence in the police force and the justice system. This cynicism is mostly justified, Álvaro Herrero of the Laboratory for Public Policies told The Economist. Argentina’s police and judiciary are “passable” at solving simple crimes, he said. “But when power—political or economic—is involved, their efficiency plummets.”
Ms Fernández has been trying to appoint loyalists as judges and prosecutors. In December she replaced the top two officials of the intelligence service, which had helped Mr Nisman, with people loyal to her. That has fed suspicions of presidential meddling in the investigation. Mr Herrero thinks it “very unlikely that we’ll get the truth in this case.”
Argentina’s Jewish community has held demonstrations on anniversaries of the bombing to demand the trial and punishment of the perpetrators. The thousands now in cities across the country represent a broader group, akin to the “pot bangers” who thronged the streets in recent years to protest against corruption and rising prices. If it turns out that Mr Nisman was murdered to stop his investigation the hunt for culprits could lead to social and political chaos, says Sergio Berensztein, a political pundit.
Unsurprisingly, Ms Fernández eagerly endorsed the tentative finding that Mr Nisman had killed himself. “What was it that brought a person to make the terrible decision to take their own life?” she wondered in a rambling Facebook post. She has ordered the Argentine intelligence agency to declassify documents related to the alleged cover-up. That at least is is welcome.
But this is not going to be an easy one to resolve. A pity there isn't a super-sleuth in a duffel coat we can send to help solve this real locked-room mystery.
Alberto Nisman, an Argentine Federal Prosecutor, was found dead by a single gunshot in his bathroom. There was a pistol by his side and the front door to his apartment was locked on the inside.
A clear case of suicide? Apparently.
Yet there was no suicide note, and a few hours later he had been due to present to a congressional committee evidence for his accusation that Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, had tried to obstruct the investigation of Argentina’s worst terrorist act, the bombing of a Jewish centre in 1994.
No one has yet been convicted for the bombing in Buenos Aires, in which 86 people died and hundreds were injured. Argentina’s Jewish community believes that Iran planned the attack and that Hizbullah agents carried it out for them. So does the state of Israel.
Argentina has issued arrest warrants for Iranian officials thought to have masterminded the massacre.
Mr Nisman was the chief investigator of the bombing and had made some serious accusations. In a 300-page document filed with a court on January 14th, he claimed that Ms Fernández, the foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, and others had opened secret negotiations with Iran to absolve the Iranian suspects in return for a deal under which Argentina could swap grain for oil.
One result of those talks, Mr Nisman said, was the “truth commission” that Argentina and Iran agreed to set up in 2013, which infuriated the Jewish community. For reasons that are unclear, the proposed deal between Argentina and Iran fell apart.
Ms Fernández’s spokesman dismissed the prosecutor’s allegations as “ridiculous”, and Mr Timerman denied them. But before Mr Nisman had a chance to present them in Congress he was found dead in his bathroom, beside a .22-calibre pistol and a bullet casing. Papers related to his congressional meeting were unfurled on his desk.
The investigating prosecutor said that “no other person” had been involved in the shooting, but did not rule out the possibility of “induced suicide”. Associates say Nisman feared for his life but showed no signs of contemplating suicide.
Clearly it is now important that Mr Nisman's death is properly investigated in such a way that everyone can believe justice is done, whatever the outcome of the investigation. That's going to be more than a little difficult,
According to a recent poll by Latinobarómetro, only a third of Argentines have any confidence in the police force and the justice system. This cynicism is mostly justified, Álvaro Herrero of the Laboratory for Public Policies told The Economist. Argentina’s police and judiciary are “passable” at solving simple crimes, he said. “But when power—political or economic—is involved, their efficiency plummets.”
Ms Fernández has been trying to appoint loyalists as judges and prosecutors. In December she replaced the top two officials of the intelligence service, which had helped Mr Nisman, with people loyal to her. That has fed suspicions of presidential meddling in the investigation. Mr Herrero thinks it “very unlikely that we’ll get the truth in this case.”
Argentina’s Jewish community has held demonstrations on anniversaries of the bombing to demand the trial and punishment of the perpetrators. The thousands now in cities across the country represent a broader group, akin to the “pot bangers” who thronged the streets in recent years to protest against corruption and rising prices. If it turns out that Mr Nisman was murdered to stop his investigation the hunt for culprits could lead to social and political chaos, says Sergio Berensztein, a political pundit.
Unsurprisingly, Ms Fernández eagerly endorsed the tentative finding that Mr Nisman had killed himself. “What was it that brought a person to make the terrible decision to take their own life?” she wondered in a rambling Facebook post. She has ordered the Argentine intelligence agency to declassify documents related to the alleged cover-up. That at least is is welcome.
But this is not going to be an easy one to resolve. A pity there isn't a super-sleuth in a duffel coat we can send to help solve this real locked-room mystery.
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