Arrest Warrant for Argentine President Found at Home of Dead Prosecutor

An arrest warrant for the President of Argentina was found in the trash of a prosecutor who was found dead just hours before he was supposed to testify in the Argentine congress about illegal activities involving the president and ministry of foreign affairs.

The New York Times reports that the warrant was 26 pages long and called for the arrest of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman.

The deceased prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, had claimed that both sought to cancel search warrants for Iranians wanted in relation to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five people died in the attack.

Nisman alleged they sought to cancel the warrants so that Iran would trade oil in exchange for Argentine food commodities. The deal would have benefitted both nations as Iran is under economic sanction for its nuclear program and Argentina is in the middle of an energy crisis.

Nisman was found dead in his apartment the morning of Jan. 18 before he was to make his case in front of the Argentine congress. The warrant seems to have been made in the summer of 2014, which was at least six months before Nisman publicly shared his suspicions about Kirchner and Timmerman. The draft was not included with the documents Nisman had prepared to bring with him to his congressional testimony.

Nisman was found dead of a shot to the head, but investigators have yet to determine whether his death was a suicide or murder.

The Times notes that the case is so politically fraught, and all the more so now with news of the draft warrant, that it has been and will continue to be difficult to find personnel to adjudicate it. Two judges have already refused to hear the matter.