Alberto Nisman led a years-long investigation into the largest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history before his own shocking death.
Nisman’s story is the focus of Netflix’s new documentary series Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President, and the Spy. Nisman, the titular prosecutor, spent a decade looking into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, which killed 85 people and culminated in the indictment of a handful of prominent Iranian officials. But his investigation continued: in 2015, Nisman publicly accused Argentina’s then-president (and newly sworn-in vice president), Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, of making a deal to absolve the perpetrators of the attacks, then covering up that agreement. Nisman planned to present his findings before lawmakers, according to The New York Times, but he was found dead within a week of his announcement, and just one day before he was scheduled to testify.
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Nisman’s death sparked international controversy, the Times reports. Political demonstrations began in Argentina as many argued that Nisman was murdered — anti-government protesters even suspected the Kirchner administration of being involved, though officials denied the accusations. Others, many Kirchner’s supporters, believed Nisman killed himself.
Nisman teases some of these theories, as evidenced by the trailer. Voiceovers not only suggest that the Argentine government was involved — some point out that Iranian spies were tracking and listening in on Nisman. Could they have been involved in a murder plot? On the other hand, one voice says that initially, the only DNA found in the room was Nisman’s. So could a murder plot have even been possible? Other details come to the fore: the prosecutor also told people that he did not trust his own private security, and he made a point of acquiring his own weapons for self-protection.
Argentine officials at the time declared that Nisman’s death was likely a suicide, according to the Associated Press — but a September 2017 report from Argentina’s border police concluding that Nisman was murdered sparked renewed interest in the case. New evidence listed in the report suggested that Nisman was beaten and drugged before being shot in the head. A few months later, a federal judge ruled that Nisman’s death was a murder, CNN reports.
The decision, however, only prompted more questions that linger years later. What happened on the night of Nisman’s death? How much did Nisman know? And who was behind his death?
Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President, and the Spy will attempt to parse out the details. The series premieres on January 1, 2020 on Netflix.