Argentina's president said Wednesday that his government will promote a law that will allow accused persons to be tried in absentia for grave crimes, paving the way for the prosecution of Iranian leaders for an attack against a Jewish center 30 years ago.
"Today we chose to speak out, not stay silent," Milei said in an address on Wednesday evening. "We're raising our voice, not folding our arms. We choose life, because anything else is making a game out of death."
In April, Argentina's top criminal court blamed Iran for the attack, saying it was carried out by Hezbollah militants responding to "a political and strategic design" by Iran.
Javier Milei said in his Wednesday speech that the law will make it possible "to try the leaders of the Iranian regime involved in the bombing."
"While they may never be able to serve a sentence, they will not be able to escape the eternal condemnation of a free court proving their guilt to the entire world."
On the morning of July 18, 1994, an explosives-laden truck exploded outside the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires.
Eighty-five people were killed in the deadliest attack ever in Argentina's history which came two years after the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29.
"Undoubtedly, the fanatical government of Iran is behind these atrocities (bombing at the Jewish center) as they have been behind so many other atrocities against humanity. To be clear, the terrorism of that tragic Oct. 7 is exactly the same terrorism that attacked us 30 years ago," Milei said.
Argentine courts have blamed the attack on Iran but no one has been brought to trial in either that case. Iran denies playing a role in either attack.
Milei questioned on Wednesday the actions of the judiciary and previous governments in Argentina for negligence, cover-up, and manipulation of evidence on the bombing attack during an commemoration event organized in Buenos Aires by the World Jewish Congress and the Latin American Jewish Congress.
Milei's government, which has expressed its alignment with Israel in the Middle East conflict, declared Hamas a "terrorist organization" last Friday, and said that "in recent years, a link with the Islamic Republic of Iran has been revealed."
In his Wednesday speech, Milei linked the attack perpetrated by Hamas against Israel last October to the AMIA bombing and demanded the release of all hostages, among whom there are still eight Argentines.
(Report by Reuters)
