Argentine judge reportedly dismisses case against president
Judge clears President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner of covering up alleged Iranian bombing of Jewish center.
Fernandez called the claims "absurd". But the scandal over the original claim by Nisman, and his death four days later, raised long-festering questions about the integrity of the Argentine justice system.
"The evidence gathered far from meets the minimal standard," said a statement from the judiciary branch's CIJ information service.
Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita renewed Nisman's investigation into whether Fernandez impeded the probe into the bombing in order to put through grains-for-oil deal with Tehran.
Pollicita is expected to appeal the decision by Judge Daniel Rafecas to discontinue the investigation into the two-term leader, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third term in October's general election.
Iran has consistently denied involvement in the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85.
Last Saturday Fernandez Kirchner accused the judiciary of launching a political battle after state lawyers organized a march to demand justice for the dead prosecutor.
The protest, known as 18F, drew tens of thousands into the streets of Buenos Aires on Wednesday, a month after Nisman turned up dead in his apartment in mysterious circumstances.
"18F, the baptism by fire for the Judicial Party," Fernandez Kirchner wrote sarcastically in a statement shared on Twitter and Facebook.
"The true political and institutional significance of the march was the public and now undeniable appearance of the Judicial Party," Fernandez Kirchner said.
The protest, one of the biggest Fernandez Kirchner has faced in her seven years in power, was summoned by a group of state prosecutors and swiftly promoted by opposition parties. The prosecutors had previously said the rally was to honor Nisman and was not politically motivated.
The group has frequently locked horns with Fernandez Kirchner's leftist government and complained of a culture of intimidation and meddling in Argentina's courts.
"It's really as strange as a march for better government would be if called for by cabinet ministers," Fernandez Kirchner said.
"18F was decidedly an opposition march, summoned by prosecutors and supported by judges and the whole spectrum of political opposition," she said.
Officials said in the days leading up to the march that it was designed to destabilize the government.
Protesters said they were demanding an independent judiciary and an end to impunity for high-ranking officials.
Similar rallies were held on the same day in other cities in Argentina as well as in Chile, the United States and Israel.
Nisman's death has sent shockwaves through Argentina ahead of October presidential elections and plunged Fernandez's final year into turmoil.
Nisman had accused Iran of being behind the 1994 bombing and alleged that Fernandez conspired with Tehran to whitewash his investigations in return for economic favors.
Iran has repeatedly denied the accusation. Fernandez called it "absurd" and said rogue state security agents who held a grudge against her had misled Nisman's investigation and then killed him.
