Ex-spy 'summoned' in Argentina

Prosecutor Viviana Fein summoned former intelligence agent Antonio "Jaime" Stiusso for questioning in the case of an Argentine prosecutor's mysterious death, La Nacion reported Thursday. Initially thought a suicide, the January 18 death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who had been investigating a two-decade-old terror attack, has caused a political firestorm in Argentina, where 70 percent of people say they believe they will never know the truth behind it.

Some have accused President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of involvement in Nisman's death, but she, in turn, has pointed the finger at the Intelligence Secretariat (SI), from which Stiusso was fired during an agency shakeup in December. Fernandez has suggested that former intelligence officials had tried to manipulate Nisman into building a case against her, and then, in an attempt to frame her, ultimately killed the prosecutor, who had 10 security agents guarding him.

The 1994 bombing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association killed 85 people and wounded 300. Nisman - appointed in 2004 to investigate Fernandez's deceased husband, former President Nestor Kirchner - accused Iran of ordering the attack via the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, and requested arrest warrants for five Iranian officials, including former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

On January 14, Nisman filed a 300-page report accusing Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman of trying to shield the Iranian suspects in exchange for oil. On Tuesday, investigators claim to have found a draft warrant for Fernandez's arrest in Nisman's garbage. Late Wednesday, Argentine officials appointed a new judge to oversee the resumed investigation.

'Extremely close relationship'

Stiusso reportedly spoke with Nisman by phone for about 12 minutes the night before the prosecutor's mother found him dead on January 18. On Thursday, Anibal Fernandez, the president's chief of staff, cited Stiusso's "extremely close relationship" with Nisman and said that "there are plenty of reasons for him to be questioned."

The former agent's lawyer, Santiago Blanco Bermudez, said he had received no summons for his client. "I just found out from the papers," Bermudez said Thursday on the radio network Vorterix. "We haven't received anything," the lawyer added. "I'm going to approach the prosecutor to find out what's happening. "

Stiusso, who joined the SI in 1972, was Argentina's most powerful spy. Fernandez has ordered the SI's dissolution, saying it operates with methods that date to Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship, and has called to create a new Federal Intelligence Agency with reduced powers.

mkg/kms (Reuters, AFP, AP)