‘Scandal’ – CFK demands dismissal of Iran MOU case

Vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on Friday called for the trial against her on charges of covering up the involvement of Iranian leaders in the 1994 bomb destruction of the AMIA Jewish community centre to be quashed, calling it “a judicial and political scandal” and attributing it “the persecution of political opponents of the Mauricio Macri government. “

The remote hearing came just after the Jewish community had paid a virtual tribute to victims of the attack on the eve of tomorrow’s 27th anniversary of the worst terrorist atrocity in Argentina’s history.

The case against Fernández de Kirchner and several of the officials from her 2007-2015 presidency was based on the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran to question the accused outside Argentina.

“This case is a monumental scandal. Two of my judges are not impartial. [Mariano] Borinsky visited Macri 15 times in the presidential residence and [Gustavo] Hornos six times in Government House,” the ex-president charged, describing both judges as “members of a judicial panel to persecute opponents.”

Fernández de Kirchner has been acquitted in some corruption cases dating from her presidency but remains indicted in seven.

The 1994 attack leaving 85 dead was attributed to the Iranian government under thenpresident Ali Rafsanjani.

“The Memorandum never entered into effect because the Iranian parliament never ratified it,” the vice-president also argued.

The accusations were originally lodged by prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead in the bathroom of his apartment with a bullet through his head in 2015 in an episode which shocked the country. The AMIA attack was preceded by the bomb destruction of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 leaving 29 dead and 200 injured. Impunity continues for both attacks.