An Argentinian judge has reopened the investigation into the mysterious death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, JTA reports Monday, months after it was frozen due to political and legal complications.
Nisman was found dead in his bathroom of a gunshot wound to the head on January 18, one day before he was to go before a congressional hearing to air his finding that Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner and her foreign minister plotted to shield Iranian officials implicated in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish-Argentine charity in 1994 which killed 85 people.
Shortly following his death, it was revealed Nisman had received threats to his life over his investigation. That, along with other evidence of foul-play such as the lack of gunpowder on his hands and the fact that the pistol used did not belong to him, had already fueled suspicion in Argentina and elsewhere that he had been murdered.
The charges drawn up by Nisman were subsequently endorsed by a new team of prosecutors, but a judge later dismissed the case, indicating he believed no crime was committed.
But on Thursday, Judge Fabiana Palmaghini took the case from prosecutor Viviana Fein, after she froze the case pending Nisman's family's request that it be investigated in federal court as an assassination.
Palmaghini has halted a month-long court recess and demanded 40 new steps to advance the stalled investigation, according to the report, including investigating Nisman's computer records, conducting a new analysis on Nisman's apartment, and questioning both Israeli-Argentine journalist Damian Pachter and former Intelligence Secretariat Chief Operations Office Antonio “Jaime” Stiuso. Both men were closely involved with the Nisman case, and fled Argentina following controversy over his death.
Analysts believe the sudden revival of the case may have to do with Kirchner's resignation from power - and a policy shift away from Iran.