Alberto Nisman Did Not Trust His Security Detail, Acquaintance Says

An acquaintance of Alberto Nisman, the Argentinean prosecutor who was found dead in his apartment on Jan. 18, has spoken out about his involvement in his death. In a news conference held on Wednesday, Diego Lagomarsino said he gave Nisman the gun that killed him after the lawyer expressed fear over the safety of his two adult daughters.

Lagomarsino said Nisman called him on Jan. 17, the day before he was found dead, asking him to come to his apartment, the Associated Press reported. Once there, he asked if Lagomarsino had a gun. According to Lagomarsino, he wanted the gun to protect his two adult daughters. When Lagomarsino mentioned that he already had police protection, Nisman reportedly said, "I don't even trust my security detail."

Nisman was a federal prosecutor in Argentina who was investigating the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. He was found dead inside his apartment on Jan. 18 with a gunshot wound to the head. Lagomarsino’s gun was by his side.

His death initially was reported as a suicide, but given the circumstances surrounding his death, it is now believed to be a homicide. Nisman was due in the court a day after his death to testify before Congress that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s administration covered up Iran’s involvement in the attack that killed 85 people.

Investigators in Nisman’s death said they found no trace of gunpowder on his hands, a sign that he would have fired the weapon. The apartment was locked from the inside. Nisman's mother, who had a locksmith open the apartment, where she discovered his body, told reporters anyone could have opened the lock.

Lagomarsino was charged Monday with a firearms violation for loaning Nisman the Bersa .22 pistol that killed him. He faces up to six years in prison. While Nisman had a security detail of 10 federal police, they have given conflicting accounts of their whereabouts on the day of his death.

On Monday, in her first televised address since Nisman’s death, Fernández announced she would support a bill that would dissolve the country’s intelligence network.

“We must start to work on a project to reform the Argentine intelligence system in order to clear up a system that has not served national interests,” Fernández said, adding that a draft bill "will be sent to Congress before my trip to China this weekend."