Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04BUENOSAIRES2712
2004-09-23 20:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Buenos Aires
Cable title:  

AMIA TRIAL UPDATE

Tags:  PGOV PINR PREF PREL PTER KJUS AR AMIA 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUENOS AIRES 002712 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/PPC, EB/IFD/OMA, S/CT
NSC FOR TOM SHANNON AND MIKE DEMPSEY
FBI FOR CTD/IRAN-HIZBOLLAH UNIT FOR SSA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2014
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREF PREL PTER KJUS AR AMIA
SUBJECT: AMIA TRIAL UPDATE

REF: BUENOS AIRES 2540

Classified By: AMBASSADOR LINO GUTIERREZ FOR REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUENOS AIRES 002712

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/PPC, EB/IFD/OMA, S/CT
NSC FOR TOM SHANNON AND MIKE DEMPSEY
FBI FOR CTD/IRAN-HIZBOLLAH UNIT FOR SSA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2014
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREF PREL PTER KJUS AR AMIA
SUBJECT: AMIA TRIAL UPDATE

REF: BUENOS AIRES 2540

Classified By: AMBASSADOR LINO GUTIERREZ FOR REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Recused trial judge Juan Jose Galeano
tendered his resignation September 13 to the President in the
face of the ongoing investigation into the alleged
irregularities committed in his investigation of the 1994
terrorist bombing of the Jewish Community Center (AMIA).
President Kirchner has apparently decided to take no action
for the moment on the resignation, allowing the Council of
Magistrates' investigation of Galeano to continue. In
another interesting twist, Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio, who
is also looking into the AMIA investigation irregularities,
is now himself under the microscope as another federal court
this week called into question his impartiality, asking the
executive branch to report on Bonadio's political
responsibilities/linkages to the former Menem administration
and Carlos Corach in particular, the former Minister of
Interior under Menem. Corach confidant Mario Baizan (please
protect),described to PolOff the recent three-judge panel
decision (Ref. A) to acquit the 22 Argentine defendants (the
"local connection") of all charges related to the 1994
attack, and to investigate Galeano, Corach and others, as a
political decision orchestrated by the Kirchner
administration. The Kirchner administration did send a clear
message of support for the recent judicial decision when
Justice Minister Rosatti paid a visit September 10 to the
Council of Magistrates and praised the courage of the
three-judge panel, particularly its call for an investigation
into Galeano's and others' actions. Embassy has no
indications that the court's September 2 acquittal and call
for investigations was, in any way, influenced or
orchestrated by the Kirchner Administration. Undoubtedly,
the Kirchner Administration sees any investigation or turn of
events that could cast aspersions on Menem and his

government's actions/inactions in the AMIA issue as a bonus.
END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On September 13, Judge Juan Jose Galeano, the
original judge in the investigation and trial of the 1994
terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center,
tendered his resignation to President Nestor Kirchner.
Galeano's resignation would have terminated the ongoing
investigation of the Council of Magistrates into his conduct
of the investigation and trial. It also would close off the
opportunity for Galeano to defend his actions and, perhaps,
to divulge possibly embarrassing information about any number
of past and current political figures. Interestingly,
President Kirchner has decided to take no action on the
resignation (he has neither accepted nor refused it) allowing
the Council's investigation to move ahead.


3. (C) In a meeting with PolOff September 15, Mario Baizan
(please protect),a close confidant of former Menem Interior
Minister Carlos Corach (who is implicated in the AMIA
investigation irregularities),described the September 2
acquittal and call for investigations of Galeano, Corach and
others as a political attack aimed at placing the blame for
the failed investigation on former Menem-era officials. As
support for his contention, Baizan said that the narrative of
the three-judge panel in its September 2 verdict almost
exactly mirrored the scenario laid out publicly some time ago
by First Lady and Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
(i.e. that the Menem administration had purposefully hindered
the investigation, covered up several interesting
international leads -- including to Syria -- and sought to
find convenient local scapegoats). Baizan, who is well
positioned to comment on the history of the attack and
subsequent investigation (he served as a liaison under Corach
in the Interior Ministry with Argentine, Israeli and U.S. law
enforcement and intelligence services),stated that this
verdict, and what he sees as the Kirchner Administration's
political manipulation of the investigation, will hinder
eventual efforts to bring the authors of the crime to
justice.


4. (C) Baizan explained that the court's decision
discredits all the evidence that Judge Galeano had uncovered
in his investigation. Baizan also alerted PolOff that Judge
Claudio Bonadio, already looking into Galeano's investigation
irregularities, was himself going to be investigated because
of alleged conflicts of interests from his time working under
Corach in the Interior Ministry's Legal and Technical
Secretariat at the beginning of the Menem Administration.

SIPDIS
Removing Bonadio, Baizan said, would stall those
investigations, further hindering an ultimate resolution of
that aspect of the case. (Note: The day after PolOff's
meeting with Baizan, the press reported that the First
Federal Court had requested the administration provide a
report on Bonadio's activities during the Menem
Administration.)


5. (C) Comment: The court's September 2 acquittal of the
Argentine defendants, and its calls for an investigation into
the original judge's and Menem-era officials' actions, has
muddied the waters and given renewed life to old and new
conspiracy theories. Kirchner is walking a fine line. While
Kirchner and the GOA have clearly shown they are anxious to
move the AMIA investigation forward (e.g. by releasing
classified documents and making intelligence personnel
available for testimony),the opportunity to focus attention
on the alleged mishandling/cover-up of the initial
investigation by the Menem Government is irresistible.
Fortunately for Kirchner, this aspect of the continuing AMIA
saga has a life of its own and will require little
encouragement from the government. What will be more
important for his administration in the long run is how the
government now facilitates and promotes the efforts to
identify and prosecute the still-at-large authors and agents
of the terrorist attack. The Jewish community and groups
representing the victims' families are pressuring the
government to renew its efforts to try to bring the suspected
Hizbollah and Iranian culprits to justice. The three-judge
panel that issued the September 2 acquittal ruling does not
release its detailed ruling until October 29. At that time,
it will become clearer what sort of evidence exists against
Galeano, Corach and others, and how much of the evidence and
testimony collected by Galeano can be used in the continuing
case. Our discussions with Judge Galeano, former
prosecutors, and SIDE, (the intelligence service),as well as
a review of the AMIA indictment, indicate that the
investigation was based mostly on circumstantial evidence
that required further extensive corroboration and that the
investigators failed to exhaust local and international
leads. We believe it is very unlikely that, 10 years later,
whatever leads remain will yield useful evidence.
GUTIERREZ