The government announced they will be sending a bill to Congress that aims to try serious crimes, like genocide, torture, and terrorism, even when the suspect is fugitive. If passed, it could help solve the AMIA bombing case, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said.

“This bill will end impunity and provide justice for all those who see murderers from afar and feel like they are not able to fight back,” said Bullrich while announcing the bill alongside Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona.

The main building of the AMIA, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, was destroyed by a bomb on July 18, 1994, killing 85 people and injuring over 300. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere until the September 11 attack. Two years earlier, the Israel Embassy in Buenos Aires also suffered a bombing attack that killed 22 people. 

The investigation into the attack was hampered by corruption and cover-up attempts, and the case has become a divisive political issue in Argentina. While the judiciary investigated allegations that the Iranian government and terrorist organization Hezbollah were behind the bombing, this hasn’t never been consistently proven.

Interpol has active alerts to detain several former high-ranking Iranian officials from when the attack happened. They are wanted by the Argentine judiciary, accused of organizing the attack, but they have never presented themselves in court and are considered fugitives.

“This bill will reach many more cases than we can imagine,” Bullrich said. “Today we might be thinking of AMIA, but it would be wrong on our part to legislate only for one case.”

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The proposal is called “Trial in Absence” and aims to carry on ongoing trials “even if the defendant does not present themselves [to trial] or escapes,” said Cúneo Libarona.

“We need to end this tradition of cases being forgotten in a drawer,” the justice minister said. “The victims’ pain and society demand it.”

If Congress approves the bill, it will apply to serious crimes like genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes of aggression, forced disappearances, and torture, as well as  terrorism, financing terrorist organizations, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Several of these crimes are included in international treaties such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons. Others are included in the Argentine Criminal Code.

According to the legislative project, a suspect who is at large will be tried in absence four months after national or international arrest warrants are issued or when an extradition request has been rejected.

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