Top AMIA Bombing Investigator Briefly Kidnapped in Argentina

One of the senior investigators in the 1994 Iranian-Hizbullah bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires was attacked and briefly kidnapped in Argentina, Israel Radio reported on Saturday night.

The masked attackers reportedly nabbed Claudio Lipschitz from his home, threw him into the trunk of a van and violently interrogated him for several hours.

The men identified themselves as members of the Argentinean intelligence service and demanded to know if Lipschitz had any case material that wasn't presented in court regarding several Iranian suspects.

The assailants also carved the letters AMIA into Lipschitz's back before releasing him.

Eighty-five people were killed and more than 200 were wounded in the July 18, 1994, bombing, the single worst terrorist attack on Argentinean soil.

The blast leveled the seven-story building, a symbol of Argentina's 200,000-strong Jewish population.

Late last year, a 10 million pesos civil suit was filed in an Argentinean court by the family of one of the victims, in the wake of an Argentinean prosecutor's report linking Iran to the bombing.

Since the report was released, a series of international arrest warrants were issued against Iranian officials for the attack.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3682577,00.html

“Buenos Aires: Former Jewish center bombing investigator says was abducted”

SNIPPET: “Former investigator of 1994 terror attack Claudio Lifschitz says hooded men forced him into their car, tattooed case file number on his arm with blowtorch and told him ‘not to mess’ with internal security service
Ynet”

Published: 03.07.09, 21:22 / Israel News

SNIPPET: “Lifschitz’s attorney told the C5N television station that on Friday night, at around midnight, a passing car forced his client to pull over in Buenos Aires’ Villa Devoto neighborhood. He was then whisked away by unknown assailants, the attorney said.

According to Lifschitz, the kidnappers covered his head with a garbage bag, and, using a blowtorch, tattooed the case file number on his arm and the letters A-M-I-A on his back.

“A van passed me by and hooded men stepped out of it,” he recalled. “They forced me to climb into their vehicle, placed a garbage bag over my head and told me not to mess with SIDE (the Argentinean internal security service). They questioned me a number of times about tapes that tie Iran to the terror attack. They told me ‘you can relax, we won’t murder you. You’ll live until we decide otherwise’.”

After taking away his cell phone, the assailants released Lifschitz near the police academy building in the capital.”

So was he kidnapped from his home, or from his car when he was driving? And did the kidnappers think he was covering up for somebody, or were they worried that some of what he knew would somehow implicate them? I hadn’t heard about the investigation of the ‘94 bombing for a long time and may just be not up to speed.

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