Argentina’s special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was investigating the 1994 car-bomb attack on the AMIA Jewish community center that killed 85 people, has been found dead in the bathroom of his apartment in the Buenos Aires City neighbourhood of Puerto Madero late on Sunday.
Nisman, who was expected to take part in a closed-door hearing in Congress on Monday to reveal the details of explosive allegations that involved Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, was found minutes before midnight.
Nisman had accused Fernandez de Kirchner of ordering impunity for the Iranian suspects in the 1994 AMIA attack in order to boost trade with Tehran.
Nisman, who was appointed 10 years ago by the by the president’s late husband Nestor Kirchner, had revealed to some members of the opposition that he was ready to appear at the congressional hearing with more documents to back his allegations.
Last Wednesday he said that Fernandez had opened a secret back channel to a group of Iranians suspected of planting the AMIA bomb.
He had said the scheme intended to clear the suspects so Argentina could start swapping grains for much-needed oil from Iran.
Argentine courts have accused Iran of sponsoring the 1994 bombing.
In 2013, Fernandez tried to form a "truth commission" with Iran to jointly investigate the bombing. She said at the time that the pact would reactivate the probe, but Israel and Jewish groups said it threatened to derail criminal prosecution of the case.
The truth commission pact was later struck down by an Argentine court.
Nisman had said the truth commission was intended to help get Interpol arrest warrants dropped against five Iranian suspects as a step toward normalizing bilateral relations.