In June of '05, Italian prosecutors went after a group of CIA officers accused of the illegal seizure of a suspect in Italy two years earlier and subjecting him to "extraordinary rendition." It was seen as a gross breach of Italian sovereignty by American agents.
An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 foreigners tied to the CIA for allegedly kidnapping an Egyptian terrorism suspect in Milan two years ago and flying him to Egypt for questioning, judicial sources said on Friday.
The foreigners “linked to the CIA” seized imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, on a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003, Milan-based judge Chiara Nobili said in the arrest warrants issued on Thursday, sources told Reuters. Nasr was taken to a U.S. base in Aviano and flown home for questioning, the sources added...
And we know now what happened when, during Bush/Cheney's tenure in the White House, "suspects" were "flown home for questioning." There was a good chance they would be "disapppeared" and tortured. The Italian prosecutors had a pretty good idea that they were onto something and they refused to let go, in spite of the cozy relationship between the Bush administration and Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi.
While America giggled at Italy's presumption, the prosecutors began in 2007 to take the case against the American intelligence agency through the Italian justice system. The CIA agents were prosecuted in absentia.
Today, almost four years after the first moves by Italian prosecutors, an Italian judge has ruled that the prosecutors, in bringing the case, violated state secrecy. Italy's Constitutional court evidently intervened to protect the Italian leadership and its strong political ties to America. The result: some key evidence will not be heard. But the trial will continue. Some wiretaps will still be admitted, in spite of government protest.
The decision by the Constitutional Court was a blow to a case of extreme political delicacy between Italy and the United States, in which 25 operatives from the Central Intelligence Agency, an American Air Force colonel and several Italian intelligence officials are charged with the seizure of an Egyptian terrorism suspect in 2003.
The Americans are being tried in absentia. The ruling did not throw out the original indictments, but it deemed inadmissible much of the evidence on which the case had been built, including material seized from Italian and American intelligence operatives. The lead prosecutor said he intended to move forward with the trial, which began in 2007 in Milan.
"Violation of state secrecy" will continue to be a potent defense used by governments acting lawlessly. With any luck, there will always be prosecutors willing to take those political entities and their agents to court.
Elsewhere, an effort by one angry protester to trim Bush's sails has been given some jail time.
