Ex-wife of AMIA bombing prosecutor leaves suit over his death, citing ‘threats’

BUENOS AIRES — Argentinean federal Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, ex-wife of the late AMIA Jewish center bombing prosecutor Alberto Nisman, removed herself from a lawsuit that prompted an investigation into the death of her former husband.

The written statement that Arroyo Salgado presented to her colleague, Federal Judge Julian Ercolini, who is overseeing the investigation into Nisman’s death, mentions ongoing “threats.”

She made the decision out of the “need to guarantee the protection and safety of the family,” she wrote in her request on Friday to be dropped from the lawsuit.

Nisman and Arroyo Salgado have two daughters, Iara and Kala.

As a plaintiff, Arroyo Salgado was able to read reports of the investigation, suggest new measures, present written requests to the judge, and offer testimony. With her removal from the lawsuit, Arroyo Salgado and her daughters will have no part in the investigation.

The remaining complainant is Nisman’s mother, Sara Garfunkel, who will continue in her active role.

Arroyo Salgado was a main backer of the investigation. In March 2015 she called a news conference and said publicly that the late AMIA terrorist bombing case prosecutor was murdered. “He didn’t commit suicide. They murdered him,” she said.

Ercolini, the federal judge leading the investigation into the case, in a 656-page ruling one year ago said the gunshot that killed Jewish prosecutor Alberto Nisman “was not a suicide, and was brought about by a third party.”

Nisman’s body was found on Jan. 18, 2015, hours before he was to present evidence to Argentine lawmakers that President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner covered up Iran’s role in the attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that left 85 dead and hundreds wounded.