Criminal complaint by dead prosecutor against Argentine president released

BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A judge in Argentina released the criminal complaint by recently deceased prosecutor Alberto Nisman against Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner.

The complaint offers evidence, including intercepted phone calls, in support of the claim that President Kirchner, Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman and others conspired with Iran in a coverup.

In the complaint, Nisman alleged Kirchner ordered negotiators to offer Iran immunity to Iranian suspects in exchange for oil. Nisman spent 10 years investigating the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish center in which 85 people died.

Mohsen Rabbani, a former Iranian representative at Iran's embassy in Buenos Aires, was named as a suspect in the bombing and accused of helping negotiate the immunity deals.

Nisman was found dead on Sunday by his mother. He was to appear in a congressional committee hearing on Monday to present the criminal complaint against President Kirchner.

"To understand [President Kirchner's] role in this impunity plan it must be made clear that the crime reported here could not have been committed without her decision and subsequent actions," Nisman said in the complaint.

Former Argentine Supreme Court judge Eugenio Zaffaroni said Nisman was "another casualty of the arduous process in investigating the events of the bombing."

"[Nisman] was a victim of twisted facts, and false leads," Zaffaroni said. "I have no reason to believe he did this maliciously. At some point he had to realize that was wrong."

Zaffaroni also said the criminal complaint does not constitute any criminal activity.