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Italy CIA rendition trial delayed while high court frames reasons for excluding evidence

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Italian judge presiding over the kidnapping trail of 26 Americans and seven Italians on Wednesday postponed the trial until April 22. Judge Oscar Magi suspended the case in order to allow Italy's Constitutional Court to explain its ruling last week excluding certain evidence from the case on the grounds of national security. The case involves 25 American CIA agents and one US Air Force colonel being tried in absentia, along with seven Italian military intelligence officials, who are charged in the 2003 abduction and rendition of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. The Constitutional Court had issued a ruling excluding key evidence based on prosecutors' violations of national security laws when they obtained classified evidence of the identities of members of Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) and their relationships with US CIA agents. While the ruling is seen as damaging to the criminal case, lead prosecutor Armando Spataro said he approved of the delay for clarification purposes. Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized on the streets of Milan by CIA agents with the help of Italian operatives, then allegedly transferred to Egypt and tortured by Egypt's State Security Intelligence before being released in February 2007. The trial has been delayed many times through out its course. Most recently, Magi delayed the trial for three months in December after the government said the testimony could compromise Italy's national security.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 19, 2009 (boomark / email).