Argentine President Cristina Kirchner says a prosecutor who apparently committed suicide was actually killed in an "operation" to implicate her government in a cover-up of a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre.
Alberto Nisman, the lead prosecutor in the two-decade-old case, was found dead of a gunshot to the head in his home on Sunday, the day before he was to go before a congressional hearing to accuse Kirchner of shielding Iranian officials implicated in the deadly attack.
Investigators have said Nisman appeared to have committed suicide, but have not ruled out homicide or an "induced suicide".
In a stunning post on her Facebook page, Kirchner contended Nisman was killed after he was "used" to publicly accuse her of involvement in the cover-up.
"I'm convinced that it was not suicide," Kirchner said.
"Prosecutor Nisman's charges were never in themselves the true operation against the government.
"The true operation against the government was the prosecutor's death after accusing the president, her foreign minister, and the secretary-general of (her political faction) of covering up for the Iranians accused in the AMIA attack," she said.
Kirchner offered no evidence to support her theory, and did not say who she thought was behind Nisman's death.
Before his death, Nisman had filed a complaint charging that Kirchner issued an "express directive" to shield a group of Iranian suspects in the bombing.
Nisman contended that the government had agreed to swap grain for oil with Tehran in exchange for withdrawing "red notices" to Interpol seeking the arrests of the former and current Iranian officials accused in the case.
The attack on the Buenos Aires headquarters of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association, or AMIA, was the deadliest terror strike in Argentina's history.
Eighty-four people were killed and more than 300 injured when a van loaded with explosives was detonated in front of the building.
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