Spy chief’s testimony in Nisman case brings it closer to being ‘murder’

The Argentinian prosecutor who died in mysterious circumstances a day before he was due to reveal a presidential cover-up over the bombing of a Jewish centre is now assumed to have been murdered, after dramatic testimony from a spy chief.

Alberto Nisman, who had been investigating the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, was found dead from a gunshot to the head in his bathroom just hours ahead of his court appearance.

The respected federal prosecutor suspected former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of agreeing to cover-up Iranian involvement in the atrocity which killed 85 people and wounded hundreds, in exchange for Tehran’s cheap oil.

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In the weeks following Nisman’s death, Kirchner said it was suicide, before blaming “rogue elements” in the intelligence agencies after an angry public backlash, with Jewish leaders among those crying foul.

This week, in an explosive new development, former spy chief Antonio Stiuso re-entered the country from exile and gave 17 hours’ evidence to a judge, who has now referred the case to a higher federal court as a likely homicide.

Stiuso, once the country’s most powerful spy, worked with Nisman on the AMIA bombing, and while his testimony remains sealed, is reported to have told the judge that Kirchner was “the author of this”.

Suspicions of foul play is sky-high. In the hours after his death, in January 2015, the crime scene was contaminated by up to 20 people and his computers were hacked and purged.