Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas has dismissed the accusation made by a state prosecutor that claimed President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and top government officials conspired to cover up Iran’s alleged role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre.
Federal Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita is expected to appeal Rafecas’ resolution, which is likely to be examined by the Federal Criminal Appeals Court over the next few weeks.
“The judge believes the minimum conditions to launch a criminal investigation have not been met, based on what the prosecutor presented,” the Centre for Judicial Information (CIJ) said in a statement.
Four days before he was found dead in his apartment in the Buenos Aires City neighbourhood of Puerto Madero, AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused Fernández de Kirchner, Foreign Minster Héctor Timerman, lawmaker Andrés “Cuervo” Larroque and social leaders Luis D’Elía and Fernando Esteche of conducting secret negotiations to cover-up Iran’s alleged involvement in the attack that killed 85 people and left hundreds injured. Nisman had filed his writ directly with Federal Judge Ariel Lijo, who later dropped the case.
On February 13, Pollicita moved forward with the criminal complaint, claiming Argentina would receive unspecified trade benefits from the impunity deal with Iran. Unlike his late colleague, Pollicita did not request to summon Fernández de Kirchner to be questioned as a suspect but he did call on Rafecas to collect evidence that could prove the president’s alleged involvement in the cover-up plot.
“None of the two hypotheses of a crime put forward by prosecutor Pollicita in his writ stand up to the minimum level of scrutiny,” Rafecas wrote in his ruling issued today.
Grounds for rejection
Nisman believed that the country signed the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding with Iran to grant impunity to the five Iranian suspects of the worst-ever terrorist attack suffered by the country. The agreement gave green light to Federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral and Nisman to travel to Tehran to question five suspects and also ordered the creation of a truth commission.
None of its goals were fulfilled because the Iranian Parliament did not ratify the treaty. Iran has long denied any involvement in the AMIA attack.
According to Rafecas, Nisman’s complaint was based on two overarching ideas: the truth commission was going to leave the masterminds of the attack unpunished, hampering the efforts of the country’s courts, and that the government had agreed to lift the “Red Notices” issued by Interpol that call for the arrest the five Iranian suspects.
Rafecas considered that no crime could even be possible considering that the truth commission was never created. He also pointed out that former Interpol chief Ronald Noble affirmed on several occasions that the Kirchnerite administration never requested that the “Red Notices” be lifted. In fact, the judge cited a letter sent by Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman after the Memorandum of Understanding was signed, reminding Interpol that the only person entitled to lift the alerts was Canicoba Corral.
Nisman based most of his complaint on phone-tapping records from Jorge Khalil, an Iranian lobbyist in Buenos Aires. But Rafecas affirmed there was no evidence linking top government officials with the manoeuvres that sought to cover up the attack.
Rafecas dropped the charges against Fernández de Kirchner, Timerman, D’Elía, Esteche, Larroque and former judge Héctor Yrimia.
He did, however, send the phone-tapping records to his colleague Luis Rodríguez, who is investigating Ramón Allan Héctor Bogado for influence peddling. Nisman claimed Bogado worked for the Intelligence Secretariat (SI), but in a writ addressed at Lijo, SI head Oscar Parrilli denied any ties with Bogado.
Rafecas was appointed during the Kirchnerite administration but his impartiality has been challenged by key government officials in the past. Namely, he was harshly criticized by Vice-President Amado Boudou for his role in the investigation into the Ciccone mint case.
Rafecas faces an impeachment request before the Magistrates Council — the body in charge of the selection and removal of judges. Human rights organizations expressed their support for the judge, a preeminent holocaust expert, who since his appointment has been investigating crimes committed during the 1976-1983 dictatorship in BA City and Greater Buenos Aires.