Case Against Argentine President, Brought by Prosecutor Who Died, Is Dismissed

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at the presidential palace Thursday in Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES — An Argentine judge on Thursday dismissed criminal allegations against President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner that had been brought by a prosecutor who had accused her of conspiring to shield Iranian officials from responsibility for the deadly bombing of a Jewish community center here in 1994.

Judge Daniel Rafecas decided that the criminal complaint the prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, put forward before his mysterious death last month was not sufficient to open an investigation of the president. In the 63-page decision, Judge Rafecas said that the allegations did not “minimally hold up” and that there was “not even circumstantial evidence” pointing to Mrs. Kirchner.

The criminal case, which had been revived by another prosecutor after Mr. Nisman’s death, sought to charge the president, the foreign minister and other political supporters of Mrs. Kirchner.

The original complaint by Mr. Nisman, the lead investigator into the attack on the Jewish center, which left 85 people dead, had described a complex web of back-channel negotiations, accusing Mrs. Kirchner of directing an effort to reduce pressure on Iranians wanted in connection with the bombing in exchange for trade benefits.

The judge’s decision to dismiss the case can be appealed by the prosecutor who revived Mr. Nisman’s criminal complaint, Gerardo Pollicita, said María Bourdin, a spokeswoman for the judiciary.

In a speech Thursday night after swearing in ministers in a cabinet reshuffle, Mrs. Kirchner did not mention the decision by Judge Rafecas.

But on Twitter, Florencio Randazzo, the interior minister, said: “We always said Nisman’s complaint against the president was nonsense. A judge confirmed that today.”

Investigators are trying to determine whether Mr. Nisman was killed or committed suicide. The lead investigator said Wednesday that Mr. Nisman’s death was still “a great unsolved mystery.”

Mr. Nisman’s body was found just a day before he was scheduled to appear before Congress to discuss his criminal complaint against the president and several top supporters. He had also drafted a request for Mrs. Kirchner’s arrest, but he did not include it in his complaint.

The sudden death of Mr. Nisman, who was found on the floor of his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head, stunned Argentina and exposed deep rifts in the nation.

Tens of thousands of Argentines poured into the center of Buenos Aires last week for a demonstration in honor of Mr. Nisman, and a sweeping array of theories have swirled around the country ever since his death, with many Argentines saying in polls that they believed that the government had a hand in it. Analysts said Thursday that Judge Rafecas’s decision could help assuage the damaging perception that the government was involved in Mr. Nisman’s death.

Mrs. Kirchner made it clear in January that she believed Mr. Nisman had been killed. She and her inner circle have cast suspicion on various figures, including the assistant who lent Mr. Nisman the gun that was found underneath his body and the ousted spymaster who worked with Mr. Nisman during his investigation.

Much of Mr. Nisman’s complaint was based on telephone calls that appear to have been intercepted by Argentine intelligence agents.

This week, Congress approved a bill, at the urging of Mrs. Kirchner, to dissolve the Intelligence Secretariat and create a new intelligence agency with limited surveillance powers. Mrs. Kirchner said the agency no longer served the nation’s needs, but the opposition claimed the changes were politically motivated.

Mrs. Kirchner and the foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, have both rejected assertions that they conspired with Iran, pointing to statements from Interpol’s former secretary general that they never sought to lift arrest warrants for Iranian officials wanted in connection with the 1994 bombing.

Still, the federal prosecutor who took up Mr. Nisman’s case this month sought to charge Mrs. Kirchner in connection with the claims of secret negotiations with Iranians.

In his decision to dismiss the case, Judge Rafecas wrote that the assertion that the foreign minister had tried to get Interpol to lift arrest warrants against the Iranians was unfounded. The evidence, he wrote, contradicted the accusation “categorically and conclusively.”

Some of Mrs. Kirchner’s political opponents immediately sought to question the judge’s impartiality.

Jorge Lanata, an influential broadcast journalist who openly opposes the government, said in televised comments that Judge Rafecas was behaving “like a soldier of Kirchnerismo,” the name given to Mrs. Kirchner’s political movement.

Martín Böhmer, a law professor at the University of Buenos Aires, said the decision — and the breathing room an appeals process could bring — would enable Mrs. Kirchner to retake the initiative in her annual speech to Congress on Sunday.

“The president will be better armed for the congressional address,” Mr. Böhmer said.

Aides to Mr. Pollicita, the prosecutor who revived the case, refused to say Thursday whether he would appeal the decision.

Mr. Nisman received death threats in 2012 and 2013, according to emails leaked to the local news media on Thursday. In one email, Mr. Nisman was told his body would end up riddled with bullet wounds. In a separate case, a judge has been investigating threats made in recent years against Mr. Nisman and his family.