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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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May 27th,
2009 - Ex-Spy Chief in Italy Denies Role in CIA Kidnap News article from the
Associated Press |
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Ex-Spy Chief
in Italy Denies Role in CIA Kidnap By Colleen Barry Associated Press May 27, 2009 Milan - The former head of
Italy's military intelligence told a court Wednesday he had no role in the
kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect - allegedly as part of the CIA's extraordinary
rendition program - but claimed he cannot prove his innocence because the
evidence is classified. Nicolo Pollari is among
seven Italians and 26 Americans on trial in the case, the first trial in any
country involving the CIA's extraordinary renditions program. "I am absolutely not
involved" in the kidnapping, Pollari said, reading a prepared statement
to the court. "But to defend myself as any citizen, I would have to
refer to contents and documents that by law I cannot." All seven Italian suspects
deny involvement and have declined to answer prosecutors' questions relating
to the kidnapping, citing a constitutional court order preventing them from
revealing classified information. The Italians appeared in
court Wednesday, all but one making their first appearance in the
two-year-old trial, while the American suspects are being tried in their
absence. Successive Italian
governments have denied any involvement in the Feb. 17, 2003 abduction of
Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a
Milan street. Prosecutors say Nasr was
transported in a van to a joint U.S.-Italian base in northern Italy, flown to
a U.S. air base in Germany and onward to Egypt, where he said he was
tortured. He has since been released in Egypt without charge. The case is the first to
scrutinize extraordinary renditions, under which the CIA transferred terror
suspects to third countries for interrogation. Human rights advocates charge
that renditions were the agency's way to outsource the torture of prisoners
to countries where torture was permitted. The CIA has declined to comment on
the Italian case. Several defendants,
including Pollari's ex-deputy Marco Mancini, on Wednesday presented letters
from Premier Silvio Berlusconi's office, reminding them not to make
disclosures that would reveal state secrets. Italy's constitutional court
ruled that no evidence could be permitted in the trial that would reveal
operations between Italian secret services and their foreign counterparts, or
that would show how Italian intelligence operated. Only Pollari and his lawyers
voiced discomfort with the order, arguing that it conflicted with his right
to defend himself. Pollari says some 80 documents can prove that he had
absolutely no involvement in the case, but they are classified. "I cannot use these
documents. It is not my choice. I respect the law, which I have never
broken," Pollari said. Pollari told the court he
would never have participated in an extraordinary rendition. He was replaced
as head of Italy's Sismi intelligence agency in 2006, after about four years
in his post. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iM_YyWi9inE9T_InTSAg1w3qlraAD98ELN8O0 Ex-Italian spy denies
involvement in CIA kidnapping By Gina Doggett Agence France Presse May 27, 2009 Milan, Italy - The former
head of Italian military intelligence Wednesday denied at a landmark trial
any role in the CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian imam from a Milan street six
years ago. "I am totally outside
of the events under discussion," Nicolo Pollari told the court, adding
that documents that could prove his innocence were protected by state secrecy
laws. "The documents show
irrefutably that ... I never gave any moral, material or any other support to
the crime," said Pollari, who had to resign from the head of the
military intelligence arm SISMI over the affair. The abduction of the imam
known as Abu Omar was part of the CIA's covert "secret rendition"
programme under which terror suspects were transferred outside the judicial
process to third countries known to practise torture. The 26 US defendants in the
case - 25 CIA agents and a US air force colonel - are being tried in
absentia. The six other Italian
defendants took the stand Wednesday but refused to answer any questions put
by lead prosecutor Armando Spataro, saying they were protected by state
secrecy laws. Judge Oscar Magi adjourned
the trial to June 10 after Spataro argued that "illegitimate orders
cannot be covered by state secrecy laws" and asked the court to use
statements made by the defendants during the investigation. "State secrecy doesn't
cover crime and doesn't constitute a reason for non-punishment," Spataro
said. The prosecutor later told
AFP that if Magi admitted evidence from the probe, "it should be
possible to finish the case before summer." Successive Italian
governments have declined to seek the extradition of the American defendants
in the case, who include the former CIA substation chief in Milan, Robert
Seldon Lady. Government lawyers 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. The imam's suspected captors
failed to take many standard precautions, notably speaking openly on cell
phones, leaving investigators in Milan to suspect that the Americans had
cleared their intentions with senior Italian intelligence officials. Abu Omar, whose real name is
Osama Hassan Nasr, was snatched from a Milan street on February 17, 2003. The imam, a member of a
radical Egyptian Islamist opposition group who had been accorded political
asylum in Italy, was transferred to a high-security prison outside Cairo,
where he was held for four years. After his release in
February 2007, he spoke 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. 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 Americans accused in the case, which is among several that
have clouded bilateral ties in recent years. Italian prosecutors suspect
the former cleric of having fought in Afghanistan and being involved in
recruiting fighters to go to Iraq. Abu Omar has denied the allegations
through his lawyer. Spataro had been building a
potential terrorism case against Abu Omar for months before the kidnapping
and had secured convictions of a number of his acquaintances. The Italian prosecutor is
known for his work against the left-wing militant group the Red Brigades that
was active in the 1970s. Copyright © 2009 AFP. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hWzOh7PKvyJe0c4l08ZSYyIEDqkA |