MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IAHRC hearing on Argentine State's responsibility in AMIA case

Argentine judges have protected their friends, Wassner said

The Argentine State's negligence in the July 18, 1994, bombing of the AMIA Jewish society and the subsequent investigation is under trial in Montevideo before the Inter-American Human Rights Court.

After the 1992 explosion of Israel's Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina's intelligence services were aware of a possible second attack and the AMIA building was among the likely targets, it was established. Yet, police custody at it was ill-equipped.

In addition to that, all Judiciary investigations were marred by secrecy and unclear deeds that resulted in a cover-up of those responsible after nearly 30 years, thus causing additional harm to the relatives of the victims.

The group Memoria Activa representing the families of the victims, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) seek a binding ruling from the Court, mandating the Argentine state to take concrete measures for the investigation to progress because the State is responsible for the violation of the right to life of the 85 dead and for having deployed and sustained a network of relationships among politically powerful groups, intelligence system offices and members of the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's Office prevented the clarification of the facts.

Expert testimony was also heard in Montevideo supporting the claims of the parties, but witnesses were not questioned to avoid their revictimization.

The parties also pledged to submit further considerations in writing.

Memoria Activa's Diana Wassner recalled in a radio interview that in 1999 a complaint had been filed against the Argentine State before the IACHR “for not having prevented the AMIA bombing and for having denied us justice.” She stressed that “after 25 years we have reached this hearing.”

“We still don't know anything about the attack”, lamented Wassner, while he remarked that “the Argentine State has to comply with what the IACHR Court says and the Court has to follow up,” she also pointed out.

Wassner also insisted on the importance “that all the intelligence files related to the bombing be freely accessible” since “they are not accessible today” and added that it was “necessary to review the convictions in the cover-up trials” in which “the judges protected their friends.”

She also recalled former President Néstor Kirchner had “recognized the responsibility of the State regarding the AMIA [case] and committed himself to several points to guarantee an investigation.”

“AMIA is an issue that the Argentine press has a hard time talking about, many have been part of the cover-up,” Wassner went on.