The Government of Argentina “works at full speed” to face reforms to promote a ‘trial in absence’ for the attack committed in 1994 against the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA).

The terrorist act left 85 dead and 300 injured and remains unpunished, since it is not possible to judge it with the current legislation.

After the ruling issued by Chamber II of the Federal Chamber of Cassation in ‘Case AMIA II’, which declared as a “crime against humanity” the attack on the headquarters of the AMIA and seals the then Iranian Government and the Lebanese militia Hizbulá of these events, the Argentine Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, made that announcement at a press conference.

Although local media reported that the Executive raised the anti-terrorist alert and strengthened security around embassies and airports, Bullrich did not talk about it and limited himself to loading the inks on former Peronist president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015).

According to Bullrich, Fernández “wanted to hide (Iran’s terrorist character) behind a nefarious memorandum that led us to negotiate with the terrorists instead of moving forward with the investigation.”

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With this he referred to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Islamic Republic of Iran, signed in 2013, with the aim of bringing positions closer to move forward with the investigation. Despite its approval by the Argentine Congress, the measure was prosecuted and, in May 2014, the law that approved the pact was declared unconstitutional, which never entered into force, because the Iranian Parliament never ratified it.

“The truth is that yesterday was a great day for Argentina,” he said.

The ‘trial in absence’, which is not possible according to Argentine legislation, although there are several bills that seek to enable it, was one of the reforms suggested by the judges of the Criminal Cassation Chamber who issued the ruling.

In addition to being the largest terrorist attack on Argentine soil, the attack on the AMIA was also the largest on Jewish targets outside Israel since World War II.

The Jewish community in Argentina, the largest in Latin America and the fifth in the world, celebrated the ruling, although it demanded an end to impunity for its leaders.

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In a statement, the AMIA stated that it receives “in a favorable way” the claim that the attack “responded to a political decision” by Iran, executed by Hizbulah.

According to the entity, on several occasions the AMIA “has expressed that the judicial file accredits multiple evidence, and contains numerous evidences that allowed to establish, from the beginning of the investigation, the role of Iran and its active participation in the decision, organization and financing of the terrorist attack.”

However, he demanded that the intellectual and material responsible “be judged and serve their sentences for the atrocious crime against humanity they committed.”

“Impunity in the AMIA cause is a shameful mark for Argentine history and a debt of democracy,” the text added.

Therefore, and with three months to go before the 30th anniversary of the attack, the entity said that “it will not be satisfied with the arrival of widely known conclusions,” since it considers it “unacceptable” that local legislation is “the same” as at the beginning of the investigation, and asked for the development of “a legal framework that allows improving the conditions of investigation, intelligence, prevention and punishment.”

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Also the president of the Delegation of Argentine Israeli Associations (DAIA), Jorge Knoblovits, opined that the ruling issued on Thursday was a cause for celebration for the Jewish community: “We must applaud these judges, who have had courage and probity.”

The DAIA recalled that “this is the line of investigation of the complaint of the prosecutor (Alberto) Nisman,” who led the investigations for 10 years until he was found dead at home on Sunday, January 18, 2015 in strange circumstances; the case, which was characterized as homicide in 2018, remains unresolved.