An Argentine federal appeals court on Thursday threw out a case accusing Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and other top officials of a major cover-up deal with Iran, giving a victory of sorts to an administration that has been rocked by the mysterious death of the prosecutor who made the allegation.
In a 2-1 decision, the First Chamber of the Federal Court upheld a decision last month by Judge Daniel Rafecas to dismiss the case. In a withering ruling, Rafecas said the case failed to present a single element of a possible crime.
That decision was appealed by prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita, who argued that a full investigation, including testimony of top officials, was necessary to evaluate the merits of the accusations.
In Thursday’s ruling, Judge Jorge Ballestero wrote that there was “a notable disparity between what is claimed and what is proven.”
“It’s the presence of evidence that should lead to a criminal investigation and not the other way around,” he wrote.
Dissenting Judge Eduardo Farah made the opposite argument, saying that opening an investigation was the only way to determine what was true.
Deciding against a probe “isn’t just incorrect, it’s contrary to what the law stipulates,” he wrote.
The decision can be appealed to the Criminal Appeals Court.
Prosecutor Alberto Nisman leveled the allegations against Fernandez on Jan. 14, and four days later he was found shot dead in his bathroom. Nisman’s death, which has captivated the nation and turned Argentines into armchair detectives, has yet to be solved.
Nisman accused Fernandez of making a deal with Iran to cover up the alleged roles of several Iranian officials wanted in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people and wounded hundreds.
Nisman said Fernandez made the secret pact in exchange for favorable trade deals with the Middle Eastern country. His 289-page investigation, which was published after his death, is based on wiretaps of administration officials allegedly talking about the deal.
Fernandez has strongly denied Nisman’s allegations, and Iran long has denied any role in the bombing. However, fallout from Nisman’s death has hurt Fernandez’s popularity, as her governing party prepares for elections in October.
Roberto Bacman, director of the Argentine Center for Public Opinion Studies, said Fernandez’s approval rating dropped from about 50 percent to 40 percent within six weeks of Nisman’s death, but started climbing in recent weeks and is now at about 45 percent.
“Today’s decision is good news for this government” ahead of the elections, Bacman said. “It allows them to start talking about the accomplishments of this administration instead of Nisman.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in