WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Argentina Supreme Court ordered the reopening of the investigation into the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center.
The court ruled 4-2 that Carlos Telledin, a former car mechanic who had been acquitted of involvement in the attack on the AMIA center, will be retried, Ynet reported. Telledin allegedly provided a van filled with explosives that was used in the bombing, which killed 85 and wounded hundreds.
The Supreme Court criticized the judge in the original trial, saying he was pressured by a local terror network affiliated with Hezbollah.
"The court is unable to annul the entire investigation, but only the part afflicted with the lack of objectivity in Judge Jose Galeano’s work," the court said in its 90-page decision. "We wish to convey a message against the injustice hovering over the case."
Last week, Argentina issued an international arrest warrant for a Colombian national suspected of involvement in the attack, Samuel Salman el-Reda.
AMIA lawyer Miguel Bronfman told JTA that the ruling "confirms that parts of the investigation performed after the attack are valid.”
Bronfman said it was time to focus on the local connections in the attack, taking advantage of international progress in the probe.
