A court said Wednesday it has cleared the only Argentine still facing charges in the 1994 bombing that killed 85 people at a Jewish cultural centre in the nation’s capital.
The federal court ruling came after former auto dealer Carlos Telleldín again denied knowing that the truck he sold would be used as a bomb in the attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, which caused the organisation’s main building to collapse. He proclaimed his “total and absolute innocence.”
Prosecutors had asked for a 20 year prison sentence.
The ruling, which can be appealed was delivered in a videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The court said the basis for the ruling would be released in coming days.
No-one has been convicted in the attack, which many Argentines believe has come to symbolize an inept and corrupt justice system that operates at the whims of politicians.
Prosecutors say Iranian agents were behind the attack, the bloodiest terror incident on Argentine soil, and several officials remain on Interpol’s Red List. But none have been extradited to face trial and Iran denies any involvement.
Telleldín was accused initially along with several local police officers of being the Iranians’ “local connection” in organising the attack.
“We’re 27 years from the terrible attack and we continue to hear, ‘Telleldin knew, Telleldin assumed, Telleldin believed…’” he told the court. “I don’t know how to say that the truck was sold to a person who came in response to a normal advertisement and paid.”
Read the article by Almudena Calatrava (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in Sight Magazine (AP).