ARGENTINA-MENEM/TRIAL Argentine ex-president a no-show at trial over bombing cover-up

Record ID: 144856

  • Title: ARGENTINA-MENEM/TRIAL Argentine ex-president a no-show at trial over bombing cover-up
  • Date: 6th August 2015
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 1994 BOMBING OF A JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE IN BUENOS AIRES
  • Embargoed: 21st August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA66ZLCP8BL5X23LCRLORAI5UR6
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS 4:3 ORIGINALLY
    Former Argentine President Carlos Menem failed to appear Thursday (August 6) at the opening of his trial for allegedly conspiring to derail an investigation into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires.
    Lawyers for 85-year-old Menem, who is charged alongside 12 co-defendants including his former intelligence chief and a former federal judge, cited health problems as the reason for his absence.
    One of Menem's lawyers, Omar Daer, said he had requested a video conference for Menem, to ensure his participation in the hearing, which failed to materialise.
    "Following advice of his doctor, he recommended complete rest (for Menem) and I had anticipated this last week and asked the court for a video conference, just like today with Dr. Anzorreguy (Hugo Anzorreguy, former head of SIDE - State Intelligence Secretariat - in 1994) and the situation could not be confirmed for Dr. Menem (presence through video conference), therefore today he is now absent from the debate. (REPORTER ASKS: What is the health condition that prevents him from being here?) Doctor Menem has a health situation that is public, he has diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis but the doctor should speak about that not myself because I'm a lawyer," Daer told reporters outside the court.
    Menem, who was president from 1989 to 1999, has repeatedly denied the accusations against him.
    The trial is likely to centre on how and why Menem, whose parents immigrated to Argentina from Syria, and his co-accused might have sought to thwart early investigations into the deadliest terrorist attack ever carried out on Argentine soil.
    Argentine authorities have long suspected that Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia were behind the attack, which killed 85 people at the community centre, known by the acronym AMIA for the Argentina Israelite Mutual Association.
    No one has ever been convicted of the truck-bombing and Iran vigourously denies any role.
    The trial of Menem comes seven months after the unsolved murder of a prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, who accused current President Cristina Fernandez of plotting to whitewash Iran's involvement in the AMIA center bombing.
    Nisman's mysterious death sparked a frenzy of conspiracy theories and for many Argentines weary of corruption and impunity, laid bare a deep-seated culture of intimidation and meddling in the country's courts.
    "We suffered from the lies. They looked us in the eye and lied to us. They made us part of this, relying on the fact we were relatives in order to lie to everyone. We are sitting inside reliving the story we went through and waiting for them to pay for what they did. Not only a lack of respect for the victims but the entire society, including us of course, but the whole society needs an answer. These thirteen who are here today, some who are not, due to health problems but represented by their legal advisors (lawyers) are those responsible for us having empty hands in terms of justice," Sergio Burstein, head of an association for survivors and family and friends of victims, told reporters outside the court.
    The trial of Menem is expected to last for months.
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