|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
|
May 26th,
2009 - Italian Spies to Take Stand at CIA Kidnapping Trial |
|
Italian Spies to Take Stand
at CIA Kidnapping Trial From Agence France Presse May 26, 2009 Milan - Italian spies will
Wednesday begin answering charges of abducting an Egyptian imam from a Milan
street as part of the CIA's covert programme of transferring terror suspects
to countries known to practise torture. The landmark case involves
25 CIA agents and a US air force colonel along with seven Italian secret
service officials including the former head of military intelligence, Nicolo
Pollari, who was forced to resign over the 2003 kidnapping. All the US defendants are
being tried in absentia, while the Italian accused were expected to appear in
the Ordinary Court of Milan, lead prosecutor Armando Spataro said Monday. "I am scheduled to
question them, but they have the right to refuse to answer," Spataro
told AFP. The trial will finally get
under way after successive Italian governments sought to have it thrown out
as a threat to national security. The issue went before
Italy's Constitutional Court, which agreed that part of the investigation had
violated state secrecy provisions but said the prosecution could use evidence
obtained correctly. Spataro said the excluded
evidence was not crucial to the prosecution's case. Last week Judge Oscar Magi
ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his predecessor Romani Prodi
would not have to testify in the trial, saying their testimony would be
"superfluous" and might compromise state secrecy. The kidnapping took place
during staunch US ally Berlusconi's second stint as prime minister, from 2001
to 2006, and he insists that he was never made aware of the operation. Prodi's subsequent
centre-left government followed Berlusconi's policy of refusing to seek the
extradition of the 26 US accused in the case, which is among several that
have clouded bilateral ties in recent years. Osama Mustafa Hassan, an
imam better known as Abu Omar, was snatched from a Milan street on February
17, 2003, in an operation coordinated by the CIA and Italian military
intelligence. Abu Omar was transferred to
a high-security prison outside Cairo, where he was held for four years. After
his release in February 2007, he told of torture and humiliation during his
incarceration. His seizure was thought to
be among scores of secret abductions around the world since the attacks of
September 11, 2001. Abu Omar, now 47, said he
was on his way to his mosque in Milan when he was abducted. He is presumed to
have been taken to the US air base in Aviano, northern Italy. Once in Cairo, Hassan said
he was held in a secret service facility where he was submitted to electric
charges and manhandling. He said his interrogation
lasted six months until September 14, 2003, according to documents obtained
by the Italian press. Italian prosecutors suspect
the cleric of having fought in Afghanistan and being involved in recruiting
fighters for jihad, or holy war. Abu Omar has denied the allegations through
his lawyer. Spataro is known for his
work against the left-wing militant group the Red Brigades that was active in
the 1970s. External link: http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=1173952675 |