Israel urged Argentine authorities to carry on with the work of prosecutor Alberto Nisman who was found dead in his Buenos Aires flat after having alleged a cover-up in the investigation of Iran over the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre which killed 85 and wounded 200.
“The State of Israel voices hope that Argentine authorities will continue with Nisman's activities and make every effort to exact justice on those responsible for the terrorist attacks in Argentina.”
Julio Schlosser, head of DAIA Delegation of Argentine-Israeli Associations said “the bomb at AMIA has exploded again today.’’
“It is very difficult to find someone who can get to know the case as he did, he had worked for ten years in the case”, said AMIA head Leonardo Jmlenitsky said.
Alberto Nisman had accused President Cristina Fernandez of having opened a secret back channel to a group of Iranians suspected of planting the bomb, with a view to clearing them so Argentina might trade grains for much-need oil from Iran.
Nisman's body was discovered in his apartment early Monday, a handgun nearby, hours before he was due to explain his allegations at the Argentine parliament, authorities said.
Israel's foreign ministry mourned Nisman's death “in tragic circumstances”. ‘’He was a brave and prominent jurist who fought ceaselessly for justice (and) worked with great resolve to expose the identities of those who carried out the terrorist attack and those who sent them”, it said.
Argentine courts have accused Iran of sponsoring the 1994 bombing at the AMIA centre in Buenos Aires. In 2007, Argentine authorities secured Interpol arrest warrants for five Iranians and a Lebanese over the bombing.
A similar attack in 1992 on the Israeli Embassy in the Argentine capital killed 29 people.
Argentine Jewish organizations were also regretted the death of Nisman and called for the AMIA probe to continue.
Schlosser said that he spoke with Nisman for the last time on Wednesday, when the prosecutor filed a complaint against president Cristina Fernández and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman for allegedly covering up Iran’s involvement in the AMIA attack.
Thousands of people demonstrated at different locations in Buenos Aires, including outside the presidential palace, and in number of other Argentine cities to protest Nisman’s death.
They held up placards reading "We're all Nisman, will you kill us all?"
Investigating prosecutor Viviana Fein said the preliminary autopsy found "no intervention" of others in Nisman's death. However, Fein said she would not rule out the possibility that Nisman was "induced" to suicide, adding that the gun was not his.
"The firearm belonged to a collaborator of Nisman" who had given it to the prosecutor, Fein told Todo Noticias television channel.
According to the autopsy, Nisman had a bullet entry-wound on the right side of his head but there was no exit wound. His body was found inside the bathroom and blocking the door, and there were no signs of forced entry or robbery in the apartment, Fein said.