Argentine Jews urge president to help solve AMIA bombing

22 years on, Buenos Aires pressed to close case of terror attack on local Jewish community center

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Jewish leaders asked President Mauricio Macri to help solve Argentina’s worst terrorist attack as the country observed the bombing’s 22nd anniversary Monday.

The 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association collapsed the organization’s main building, killing 85 people and leaving hundreds injured in the rubble.

During the ceremony Monday, Macri presented a flower wreath as sirens blared and the families of the victims held photographs of their loved ones.

Survivors also criticized previous governments for not solving the crime.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri arrives for the 22nd anniversary event for the AMIA Jewish center bombing that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

“The justice they deserved is as dead as them,” Sofia de Guterman said about her daughter, Andrea Guterman, and other victims during the ceremony held at the reconstructed building.

If those responsible don’t face justice, “we’ll soon have to issue a death certificate for the case itself,” Guterman said.

Prosecutors have accused Iranian officials of being behind the bombing, but no one has been convicted in the attack, which many Argentines believe has come to symbolize an inept and corrupt justice system.

“It’s been 22 years of not knowing what went on as a result of badly introduced evidence, other evidence that hasn’t even been considered, and documents that the executive power hid from judges,” Mario Cimadevilla, head of a special investigative unit focused on the attack, told local radio.

A man holds a sign that reads in Spanish: "Eighty-five plus Nisman equals zero" on the 22nd anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, July 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) — A man holds a sign that reads in Spanish: “Eighty-five plus Nisman equals zero” on the 22nd anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, July 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

During the ceremony, some also called for answers in the mysterious death of the leading prosecutor investigating the case. Alberto Nisman’s body was discovered in his apartment January 18, 2015, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Nisman was scheduled to go before Congress the next day to present allegations that then-president Cristina Fernandez orchestrated a secret deal to cover up Iranian officials’ alleged role in the attack. Fernandez denied it and judges later threw out the case.

Argentina's Public Prosecutor Alberto Nisman gives a news conference in Buenos Aires, May 20, 2009. (JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images) — Argentina’s Public Prosecutor Alberto Nisman gives a news conference in Buenos Aires, May 20, 2009. (JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images)

A year and a half after Nisman’s death, authorities have yet to determine whether he took his own life or was killed by someone else.

Conspiracy theories swirl around the case. Some people believe Nisman killed himself because he felt his claims against Fernandez lacked proof. Others say he was slain because he was a threat to the Argentine and Iranian governments.