The president and the prosecutor

摘要

The slogan "Yo soy Nisman" ("I am Nis-man") appeared first as a Twitter hash-tag and then on placards held aloft this week by demonstrators outside the residence of Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. They demanded "justice" for Alberto Nisman, a federal prosecutor who died from a gunshot on January 18th. The protesters suspect foul play. Mr Nisman died just hours before he was due to lay out before a congressional committee evidence for his accusation that Ms Fernandez had tried to obstruct the investigation of Argentina's worst terrorist act, the bombing of a Jewish centre in 1994. Yet the cause of Mr Nisman's violent death is not entirely clear. Perhaps, as the demonstrators believe, he was killed by forces intent on stopping his inquiry into a government conspiracy to cover up responsibility for the bombing. Or perhaps the truth is something else entirely.