The Argentine Justice finds Iran and Hezbollah guilty of the attacks against the AMIA in 1994

Milei celebrates the sentence after "decades of postponement and cover-up"

MADRID, 12 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Federal Court of Cassation of Argentina has found Iran and the Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah guilty of being behind the largest terrorist attack in the country's history on July 18, 1994 against the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires. Aires, which left 85 dead and hundreds injured.

The judges have explained that the Iranian authorities planned the attack while Hezbollah carried it out, and have described the attack as a "crime against humanity" for constituting "serious violations of Human Rights."

The court has also requested legal reforms to be able to judge "in absentia" the seven fugitive Lebanese and Iranian citizens, and on whom an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol falls for crimes that are "imprescriptible, according to what the newspaper has published. Argentine 'La Nación'.

For his part, Judge Carlos Mahiques has spoken about the possibility of criminally accusing Iran before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the attack despite the fact that the necessary legal circumstances do not exist for the initiative to succeed, although he has proposed starting a civil lawsuit against the country.

"It would be imperative to foresee the international illicit conduct of States in a clear, precise and exhaustive manner. The jurisdiction to judge such conduct must be entrusted to an impartial International Court, in the exercise of mandatory jurisdiction," he expressed.

The Argentine Government, chaired by the ultra-liberal Javier Milei, has celebrated the sentence after "decades of postponement and cover-up", and has expressed that the judicial decision has come due to the "absolute independence" of the Judiciary, which "has been able to exercise its function with total freedom."

"This significant advance in the judicial field highlights the repeated attempts of Kirchnerism to cover up Iran's responsibility and postpone this historic ruling, betraying the country in 2013 with the signing of the so-called 'Memorandum of Understanding', a pact that promoted and guaranteed terrorist impunity," reads a statement from Milei's Office published on his account on the social network X, formerly Twitter.

"The Federal Court of Criminal Cassation has been able to exercise its function with total freedom, without political pressure, to deliver the justice that both victims and their families have waited for decades. On December 10, 2023, the era of impunity in the Argentine Republic", the Government has expressed.

On July 18, 1994, 85 people were killed and around 300 injured when a car bomb exploded next to the AMIA headquarters, two years after another bomb destroyed the Israeli Embassy in the city.