Natalio Alberto Nisman (5 December 1963 – 18 January 2015) was an Argentine lawyer who worked as a federal prosecutor, noted for being the chief investigator of the 1994 car bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people, the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina's history.

[3][4] On 18 January 2015, Nisman was found dead at his home in Buenos Aires,[5][6] one day before he was scheduled to report on his findings before a Congress inquiry with supposedly incriminating evidence against high-ranking officials of the then-current Argentinian government including former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, regarding the Memorandum of understanding between Argentina and Iran.

[12] In 2023, on appeal, the Federal Chamber of Cassation revoked the dismissal that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had benefited from and ordered her to be tried for the alleged cover-up for which Alberto Nisman accused her regarding the Argentina-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.

[15] The reasons are that "the accused persons are attributed to the organization of a complex criminal plan to achieve or favor the impunity of the Iranian citizens suspected of having participated in the terrorist attack on the AMIA headquarters through two parallel channels, one formal—with the signing of the memorandum of understanding—and another informal, with unofficial negotiations.

In a divided sentence, two of the three judges of this second instance tribunal (Carlos Mahiques and Diego Barroetaveña) ruled that the attack was part of Iran's political and strategic design and was executed by the terrorist organization Hezbollah,[19][20] also considering Alberto Nisman's hypothesis as correct and corresponding with the alleged circumstances that originated the attack on AMIA,[21] although the third judge, Ángela Ledesma, differing completely from her colleagues, refused to make any consideration of the responsibility of Hezbollah or Iran "taking into account that this topic is not part of the object of the appeals presented", and harshly criticized the original juditial investigation since it never followed through (or disproved) the so-called "Syrian trail" hypothesis for the attack,[22] choosing instead to focus solely on Iran.

[13] However, the Cassation Chamber's ruling did not occur in the context of an official trial against those responsible for the AMIA attack,[13] being instead part of a parallel process that was opened to investigate a cover-up carried out by the first judicial and government officials who were in charge of the "AMIA case" during the 1990s and early 2000s;[13] the attack against the main community center of the Argentine Jewish community not only remains as the worst act of terrorism in the history of Argentina but also as one of the greatest examples of impunity three decades later: with none of the perpetrators arrested or a single suspect tried,[13] those who received prison sentences were instead the first judge (Juan José Galeano), paid informants, prosecutors and other officials who handled the original case and investigation.

[13] The judge in charge of Nisman's death case since Bonadio's demise in 2020, Julián Ercolini, chose to partially take the Gendarmerie's forensic findings indicating a murder (similarly as with the Federal Chamber and the Court of Cassation) as well as ratifying the presumption of homicide,[23] so that is the figure that still stands nine years after the death of the prosecutor,[23] but far from finding the material authors, the investigation apparently remains determined to only search for whoever gave the alleged order to murder Nisman.

[23] To date, and despite all the accusations, theories and alleged evidence collected about Nisman's death, no actual trial has been carried out to determine with complete certainty what really happened and formally sentence the guilty parties in case of murder.

[citation needed] Santiago O'Donnell, a journalist and writer who published the books Argenleaks and Politileaks, both of which analyse the Wikileaks cable leak concerning Argentina's foreign and domestic policies, stated that during his investigation, he found clear and strong ties and "friendship" between Nisman, the CIA and the Embassy of Argentina in Washington, D.C.[37] According to O'Donnell, the cables revealed Nisman had received recommendation from the US embassy to not investigate the Syrian clues in the AMIA bombing and the local connection of the terrorist attack,[38][39] and that he was instead to assume certain guilt of Iranian suspects, although no trial had been conducted.

"The judge believes the minimum conditions to launch a criminal investigation have not been met, based on what the prosecutor presented," the Judicial Information Centre (CIJ) said in a statement.

"[46] Pollicita did not succeed Nisman as chief AMIA prosecutor; this office was headed as of 13 February by Sabrina Namer, Patricio Sabadini, Roberto Salum, and the prosecution task force coordinator, Juan Murray.

[47] Nisman was found dead at his home in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, on 18 January 2015 next to a Bersa Thunder 22 handgun, just hours before he was due to appear before Congress to discuss the allegations,[5][6][48][49] and six days after publishing the 288-page report.

[55] One of his last WhatsApp messages, for his relatives and friends, said "Estoy mejor que nunca y más temprano que tarde la verdad triunfa" (Spanish for "I'm better than ever and sooner than later the truth prevails").

[55] Some who knew Nisman well, including Congresswoman Cornelia Schmidt-Liermann, said that he had been living under constant threats on his life since he began his investigation 10 years earlier.

[48][57] Fein announced on 3 February 2015 that Nisman had drafted warrants for the arrest of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Héctor Timerman, Argentina's Foreign Minister, before his death.

[60] In June 2015 a video was released of the crime scene investigation showing police allegedly tampering with evidence by neglecting certain precautionary measures.

[11][10] In 2023, on appeal, the Federal Chamber of Cassation revoked the dismissal that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had benefited from and ordered her to be tried for the alleged cover-up for which Alberto Nisman accused her regarding the Argentina-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.

[64] The reasons are that "the accused persons are attributed to the organization of a complex criminal plan to achieve or favor the impunity of the Iranian citizens suspected of having participated in the terrorist attack on the AMIA headquarters through two parallel channels, one formal—with the signing of the memorandum of understanding—and another informal, with unofficial negotiations.

[70][71] A letter was delivered by historian Richard Gott and 29 other British journalists, artists, and intellectuals to the Argentine Embassy in London rejecting the "political use" of either the AMIA bombing or Nisman's death.

Santiago O'Donnell, an Argentine journalist and writer who published the books Argenleaks and Politileaks, both of which analyse the Wikileaks cable leak concerning Argentina's foreign and domestic policies, stated that during his investigation, he found clear and strong ties and "friendship" between Nisman, the CIA and the Embassy of Argentina in Washington, D.C.[75][37] According to O'Donnell, the cables revealed Nisman had received recommendation from the US embassy to not investigate the Syrian clues in the AMIA bombing and the local connection of the terrorist attack,[38][39] and that he was instead to assume certain guilt of Iranian suspects, although no trial had been conducted.

[40][41] Argentine journalist Facundo Pastor accused Nisman claiming of having longstanding working relationship several USA security agencies, including the FBI.

Pastor also states that in the light of his revelations it seems highly plausible that Nisman, instead of having been murdered by Argentina officials as has been widely assumed by the political opponents of Kirchner, committed suicide after all.

Pastor claims that Nisman might have been abandoned by his USA security contacts because the Obama administration shifted its political priorities from a severe anti-Iran policy towards a negotiated nuclear deal and more relaxed diplomatic ties with Iran as a consequence.

[82] Diego Lagomarsino, the man who declared that he had given Alberto Nisman the gun from which the mortal shot came out, stated that every month he gave his boss 50 percent of his salary, against his will.

The data on Nisman's estate were provided two months after the death, in a letter signed by Lagomarsino and his lawyers and presented to the prosecutor Viviana Fein.

In 1989, Gerardo Larrambebere (then federal judge of Morón), appointed Nisman as the secretary in charge of the investigation on the allegations of forced disappearance of Iván Ruiz and José Díaz, two of the guerrilla members who participated during the fight on La Tablada barracks.

[86][87] In December 2018, during the third hearing of the trial for the human rights violations committed during the recovery of the La Tablada barracks in 1989, a surprising revelation occurred when two soldiers who had participated in the events claimed under oath that Iván Ruiz and José Díaz were captured alive, tortured and then disappeared by the Army (known as Desaparecidos in Argentina).

[88] But one of them went further: César Ariel Quiroga, at the time the driver of an ambulance inside the Tablada barracks, reported that he was forced to sign a statement with facts that he did not see and which cleared the name of the military in the disappearance of Ruiz and Díaz.

[98] This docuseries, titled Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy was directed by British filmmaker Justin Webster and was made available on the streaming service in January 2020.