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Argentina to put 10 accused in 1994 bombing on trial in absentia
An Argentine judge on Thursday ordered that 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals be tried in absentia over their alleged role in in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
The attack, which caused devastation in Latin America's biggest Jewish community, has never been claimed or solved, but Argentina and Israel have long suspected Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group of carrying it out at Iran's request.
In his ruling Thursday, which was seen by AFP, Judge Daniel Rafecas acknowledged the "exceptional" nature of the decision to send the case to court over three decades after the bombing, with the suspects all still at large.
Trying them in absentia, he said, allowed to "at least try to uncover the truth and reconstruct what happened."
On July 18, 1994, a man drove a van packed with explosives into the seven-storey Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building.
Argentine authorities named the suicide bomber as Lebanese Hezbollah militant Ibrahim Hussein Berro.
Besides the 85 fatalities, the deadliest attack in Argentina's history injured more than 300 people.
No one has ever been arrested over the attack.
The 10 suspects facing trial are former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, most of whom have been the subject of Argentine arrest warrants since 2006.
Since 2006 Argentina had sought the arrest of eight Iranians, including then-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Bahramaie Rafsanjani, who died in 2017.
Iran has always denied any involvement and refused to extradite the suspects.
Thursday's ruling on trying them in absentia is the first of its kind in the South American country.
Until March this year, the country's laws did not allow for suspects to be tried unless they were physically present.
It comes amid a new push from Argentina's 300,000-strong Jewish community for justice to be served over the attack, backed by President Javier Milei, a staunch ally of Israel.
Judge Rafecas said a trial in absentia was both justified, given the "material impossibility of securing the presence of the defendants," and necessary, to "prevent perpetual immunity" for those responsible.
His ruling can be appealed to Argentina's Federal Court.
The accused include former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who has called the allegations of his involvement "lies," and former interior minister Ahmad Vahidi, former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian and former ambassador to Argentina Hadi Soleimanpour.
While the AMIA has in the past supported a trial in absentia, an association of the victims' families had previously opposed the idea, saying it feared it would merely serve to "close the case without truth and without justice."
Neither AMIA nor the association were available for comment on Thursday.
Nixed nuclear deal
In April 2024, an Argentine court blamed Hezbollah for the attack, which it called a crime against humanity.
It found that the attack and another on the Israeli embassy in 1992 that killed 29 people were likely triggered by the Argentine government under then-president Carlos Menem canceling three contracts with Iran for the supply of nuclear equipment and technology.
The court did not however manage to produce evidence of Iran's involvement.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica last year found the Argentine state responsible for not preventing, nor properly investigating, the attack.
It also blamed the state for efforts to "cover up and obstruct the investigation."
Former president Cristina Kirchner has been ordered to stand trial over a memorandum she signed with Iran in 2013 to investigate the bombing.
The memorandum, which was never implemented, allowed for suspects to be interrogated in Iran rather than Argentina, leading Kirchner to be accused of conspiring with Tehran in a cover-up.
She has denied the charges which were brought by prosecutor Alberto Nisman who was found dead in at his home in 2015 in which a court later ruled was a murder.
No one was ever charged over his death.
