BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- An Argentine court on Thursday acquitted five men of charges of being accessories to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, the biggest terrorist attack on Argentine soil, which claimed 85 lives.

    The verdict, read by President of Tribunal Number 3 Miguel Pons,cleared the suspects of all major charges for lack of evidence after a nearly three-year-long trial, the longest in the judicial history of Argentina.

    On July 18, 1994, a van-bomb exploded, destroying the headquarters of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Aid Association, leaving 85 people dead and some 300 injured.

    The five suspects, used-car dealer Carlos Telleldin and four former policemen Juan Ribelli, Raul Ibarra, Anastasio Leal and Mario Bareiro, were not accused of direct involvement in the bombing but were charged as accomplices for alleged roles in a stolen car ring that had delivered the white van used in the attack.

    However, Bareiro and Leal remained in prison for other offenses.

    "The relatives of the victims feel let down because 10 years of struggle is thrown overboard ... We looked forward at one day we were going to have justice. Today that is just another dream; this is the death of justice," said Sofia Guterman, the mother of a victim, before the reading of the verdict in view of a possible acquittal.

    Argentine investigators and the local Jewish community linked former Iranian diplomats with the planning of the attack and said the direct perpetrators were members of the Islamist group Hizbollah, yet the Iranian government has repeatedly denied the accusation.

    After failing in efforts to extradite Iranian suspects wanted in the case, investigators have instead focused on what has been called "the local connection."

    On March 17, 1992, another attack destroyed the Israeli Embassyin Buenos Aires, killing 29 people and injuring 200. This case remains unsolved. Enditem