An Argentine special prosecutor who was found dead of a gunshot wound in his home had drafted a warrant seeking the arrest of the country’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, according to documents obtained by local media.
Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor whose death last month sent shockwaves through Argentina, drafted a 26-page document, first published in Argentine Spanish-language newspaper Clarin, calling for the detention of Fernandez and her foreign minister, Hector Timerman.
The document was found in a trash bin at the Nisman’s apartment, where he was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head by police on Jan. 18.
Nisman was the lead investigator into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds more. In the last few months, Nisman had been outspoken in his criticism of Kirchner and other government officials, accusing them of having shielded Iranian officials from responsibility in the attack. Nisman was set to testify in a hearing about the bombing before his death.
Viviana Fein, the lead investigator into Nisman’s death, initially denied the existence of a draft when Clarin first reported on them on Sunday. But on Tuesday Fein walked back her comments, saying on Argentine radio that it was a misinterpretation.
“The word I should have used is: It is clear that there was a draft,” she said on Argentine radio station Vorterix. In a statement released by Fein’s office, she said different types of documentation were found in Nisman’s home, including in a trash bin, and that the material was protected as evidence and all part of the investigation. She added that further testing of evidence will take place next Monday. Fein did not acknowledge whether there was a warrant for the president’s arrest.
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