An Argentine judge has dismissed charges filed against president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, a week after more than a quarter of a million took to the streets in memory of Alberto Nisman, the deceased prosecutor who had made the accusations.
Judge Daniel Rafecas said there wasn't enough evidence to support allegations that Ms Fernandez de Kirchner tried to cover up for those accused in the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish centre, according to a statement posted on the judiciary's website. The bombing was the country's deadliest terrorist attack.
Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita charged Ms Fernandez de Kirchner on February 12th with seeking to remove Interpol arrest warrants against Iranian officials in relation to the incident in exchange for trade deals.
“It’s clear that neither of the two hypotheses of crime sustained by prosecutor Pollicita can be minimally sustained,” the judge said in the statement.
“Far from sustaining the prosecutor’s version, the evidence gathered clearly and concisely refutes it.”
Mr Pollicita based his charges on evidence gathered by prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead from a shot to the head on January 18th, a day before he was due to present evidence for his claims at a congressional hearing.
Ms Fernandez de Kirchner has denied the allegations, while her government has called the evidence “flimsy”.
Intelligence agency overhaul
Argentina’s congress had earlier approved a law overhauling its intelligence agency, which had come under fire from the president as well as the opposition.
The measure comes after president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the agency was out of control and suggested a top spy could have been involved in the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.
Opposition lawmakers said the proposed revamp does not go far enough.
Nisman commemoration
Hundreds of thousands of Argentines rallied under heavy rain last week to commemorate Mr Nisman’s death, in a march the government had labelled an attempted “soft coup”.
Demonstrators lined the two-kilometer (1.2 mile) stretch of Avenida de Mayo in Buenos Aires which connects Argentina’s congressional building with the presidential palace in torrential rain.
The silence of the march was broken toward the end with chants of “Never again”, “Nisman”, and “Argentina”. Mr Nisman had been appointed by Ms Fernandez de Kirchner’s late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, in 2004 to investigate the bombing, which killed 85 people.
Bloomberg and PA