Dead Argentine prosecutor’s ex-wife criticizes probe

Too many details are being leaked in investigation into Alberto Nisman’s death, says Sandra Arroyo Salgado

Alberto Nisman gives a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 20, 2009. (AFP/Juan Mabromata)
Alberto Nisman gives a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 20, 2009. (AFP/Juan Mabromata)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The ex-wife of an Argentine prosecutor who died mysteriously after accusing President Cristina Kirchner of a cover-up in a 1994 Jewish center bombing criticized the probe into his death Thursday.

Speaking at a congressional session called by opposition lawmakers, Sandra Arroyo Salgado, the ex-wife of late prosecutor Alberto Nisman, condemned the prosecutor and judge investigating his death for going public with too many details on the case.

“Let’s let justice take its course,” said Arroyo Salgado, who is herself a well-known judge.

She called for “prudence, ethics and responsibility” from all involved, and told lawmakers she had asked for the case to be referred to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Arroyo Salgado, who has two daughters with Nisman, said the family wanted a psychological profile performed to help determine whether the late prosecutor committed suicide.

Nisman, 51, was found with a gunshot wound to the head on January 18, on the eve of a congressional hearing at which he was expected to accuse Kirchner of shielding Iranian officials from prosecution over the bombing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.

The death was initially labeled a suicide, but suspicion has fallen on Kirchner’s government over orchestrating Nisman’s murder.

The president has suggested Nisman was manipulated by disgruntled former intelligence agents who then killed him to smear her.

Kirchner said she would dissolve the nation’s intelligence body after she blamed rogue agents for Nisman’s death.

On Thursday, the Argentina Senate approved the bill that dissolves the country’s Intelligence Secretariat to create a new federal intelligence agency. The measure still needs approval by the country’s lower house.

Nisman had accused Iran of ordering the 1994 bombing via the Lebanon-based Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Four days before he was found dead, he filed a 300-page report accusing Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman of trying to cover up high-ranking Iranian officials’ involvement in the attack in exchange for oil.

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