Argentine prosecutors appeal dismissal of case against president

Argentine prosecutors said Wednesday they have appealed a judge's decision to dismiss their case against President Cristina Kirchner for allegedly protecting Iranian officials accused of orchestrating a 1994 bombing.
Prosecutors are seeking to relaunch the case that was being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman, who died mysteriously on January 18 after accusing Kirchner of shielding high-ranking Iranians suspected of ordering the deadly bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center.
Judicial sources said lead prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita argued in his appeal that Judge Daniel Rafecas was overly hasty in his decision last Thursday to throw out the case.
The judge had assailed the prosecution's case in a 63-page ruling, saying that "none of the alleged crimes presented by Pollicita in his petition to the court are demonstrated in the least."
Pollicita's team took over the file from Nisman after the late prosecutor was found dead in his Buenos Aires apartment of a gunshot wound to the head.
Four days earlier he had filed a report accusing Iran of ordering the bombing via Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and alleging that Kirchner was trying to shield Iranian officials from prosecution in exchange for oil and other trade benefits.
Since Nisman's death, initially labeled a suicide, suspicion has fallen on Kirchner's government of orchestrating his murder.
The president has suggested the prosecutor was manipulated by disgruntled former intelligence agents who then killed him to smear her.
The long-unsolved bombing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association killed 85 people and wounded 300.