Argentine Expert: Killer Washed His Hands in the Sink after Murdering Nisman

BUENOS AIRES – An expert hired by the family of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman to investigate his still-unsolved death says he is convinced the alleged killer used the sink to wash his hands, Clarin newspaper reported.

In his latest presentation to the lead prosecutor in the case, Viviana Fein, Daniel Salcedo said “the absence of certain blood stains” in the bathroom of Nisman’s apartment, where his body was found with a single shot to the temple on Jan. 18, shows that another person was with him at the time of his death.

Salcedo also presented Fein with a digital animation sequence to back his murder hypothesis, noting that the blood stains slanted downward and began at a height of 60 centimeters (23.5 inches), or almost 50 centimeters (20 inches) above the spot where the victim’s head was found, the daily said Tuesday.

The expert said the alleged killer was standing behind Nisman and to the right, while the prosecutor was down on one knee by his bathtub.

The blood stains could have occurred when the purported killer shook his hands before washing them, Salcedo said.

Salcedo’s latest hypotheses were presented a month after Fein received a report containing the analysis of Federal Police experts; an expert hired by the defense team of Diego Lagomarsino, an aide to Nisman who is accused of providing a firearm to the prosecutor; and Salcedo.

In that report, the different experts disagreed on the cause of death, with those from the Federal Police and Lagomarsino’s defense team ruling out the existence of another person inside Nisman’s apartment.

Nisman, the special prosecutor for a 1994 attack on a Jewish organization in Buenos Aires that left 85 people dead, was found dead four days after he brought charges against Argentine President Cristina Fernandez of trying to conceal Iranian involvement in the bombing.

Many in the Argentine Jewish community believe the attack on the AMIA Jewish organization was ordered by Iran and carried out by Tehran’s Hezbollah allies.

Both the Iranian government and the Lebanese militia group deny any involvement and say the accusation relies heavily on information provided by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Prosecutors have yet to secure a single conviction in the bombing case.

The Argentine courts have dismissed Nisman’s charges against the president as baseless.