Italy may put CIA agents on trial in absentia

By Phil Stewart

MILAN (Reuters) – Milan prosecutors expect to launch
procedures within a month that could put 22 CIA agents accused
of kidnapping a Muslim cleric in Milan on trial in absentia, a
senior judicial source said.

The source, who asked not to be named, said prosecutors
were growing tired of perceived foot-dragging by Washington and
Rome over requests that would advance their investigation —
one of several European probes into suspected U.S. covert
operations.

The United States has still not responded to a request in
January by Italy for judicial assistance in the case, which
could potentially allow Italian prosecutors to travel there to
question suspects and gather evidence.

Neither has Italy’s government responded to a request in
November from prosecutors to seek the extradition of the agents
from the United States.

If no helpful action has been taken by early March — as
appears increasingly likely — then prosecutors will close
their investigation, the well-placed source said.

“The next step will be to go to trial,” he said.

The European Parliament and the Council of Europe are
watching the Italian case carefully as they move ahead with
their own investigations into suspected U.S. anti-terrorism
operations, including running secret prisons in eastern Europe.

German and Swiss prosecutors are also looking into other
accusations of U.S. covert transport of detainees, a process
known as “rendition.”

An Italian trial of the 22 agents could potentially open a
wealth of evidence in the case to the public, showing how
terrorism suspect Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr was grabbed off a
Milan street in 2003 in broad daylight.

Prosecutors will count on the de facto testimony of Nasr
himself, who briefly recounted the ordeal in conversations
picked up in an Italian phone-tap. He has said he was flown to
Egypt and tortured during interrogation.

Italian investigators have accused Nasr of ties to al Qaeda
and a Milan judge has issued a warrant for his arrest. He has
been held by Egyptian authorities, his lawyer has said.

Even if the 22 CIA agents are tried, investigations into
the kidnapping will continue. More CIA accomplices in the
kidnapping will be identified, the source said, thanks to
evidence they left behind.

At the heart of the prosecutors’ case are cell phone
records. Following the web of conversations, the investigators
were able to identify a network they say planned the
kidnapping.

“Not all of the telephones used have yet been identified to
specific people, so the investigations continue,” he said.

All of the 22 CIA agents are likely to have left Europe
since Italy issued arrest warrants against them last year which
are valid across the entire 25-nation European Union.