Narayan AmmachchiAn Argentine court has ordered the arrest of former President Cristina Kirchner on charges of trying to obstruct justice and protecting Iranian nationals accused of carrying out the country’s worst ever terrorist attack.
The judge, Claudio Bonadio, has also called for her impunity from prosecution to be stripped, a shield she enjoys as a senator.
The 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people. No one has yet been prosecuted for the crime.
According to court papers, Kirchner secretly reached a deal in 2013 with Iranian government to offer immunity for the suspects in exchange for Iranian oil.
The conspiracy hit headlines in 2015 when prosecutor Alberto Nisman investigated and brought the charges against Kirchner.
On January 20, 2016, the day before he was scheduled to present his case before Congress, Nisman was found dead with a bullet in his head.
Kirchner initially said it was suicide, but then believed it was a murder orchestrated to smear her. Last month an Argentine panel concluded that he had been murdered.
Argentine papers say the former president still holds sway over a large number of congressmen, making it less less likely that she will be arrested.
The court has also ordered the arrest of Carlos Zanni, her former aide, and Luis D’Elia, a high-profile Kirchner activist, on the same charges.
Sixty-four-year-old Kirchner is facing several charges of corruption and money laundering stemming from her years as president. Many of her former colleagues have also been detained on corruption charges in recent weeks, including ex-public works minister Julio De Vido and Amado Boudou, her vice president from 2011 to 2015.
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