Bush's Italian Trip Comes as 'Rendition' Trial Opens
President Bush is in Italy on Friday, the latest stop on his European tour. His visit comes as a trial involving the "extraordinary rendition" program began in Milan. Twenty-six Americans — all but one believed to be CIA — are being tried in absentia alongside seven Italian intelligence officers.
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President Bush is in Italy today, the latest stop on his European tour. At the same time, a trial began in Milan, a trial that's embarrassing for both Italy and the U.S. It involves the controversial CIA practice known as extraordinary rendition. Twenty-six Americans - all but one believed to be CIA - are being tried in absentia alongside seven Italian intelligence officers, including the former head of Italy's intelligence agency.
NPR's Sylvia Poggioli has this from Milan.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: The charge is the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar, who the prosecution says was flown to Egypt where he was tortured. He was under investigation for terrorism.
(Soundbite of Abu Omar speaking foreign language)
POGGIOLI: The trial began with the reading of the names of the defendants.
Unidentified Man #1: Castelli, Jeffrey (Italian spoken)…
POGGIOLI: Jeff Castelli and another defendant, Robert Seldon Lady, were said to be the CIA station chiefs in Rome and Milan at the time of the abduction. None of the American defendants were present in court and a U.S. official had said they'll never be handed over for prosecution.
Ms. ALESSIA SORGATO (Lawyer): (Italian Spoken)
POGGIOLI: Alessia Sorgato, the court-appointed lawyer for three of the American defendants, filed a motion saying her clients are not fugitives. She said they left Italy long ago and know nothing about the indictments. Not so, countered prosecutor Ferdinando Pomarici.
Mr. FERDINANDO POMARICI (Italian Prosecutor): (Through translator) An email message found in the computer of Milan CIA station chief Robert Seldon Lady urged him and his colleagues to leave Italy at the earliest to avoid being arrested.
POGGIOLI: The prosecution says the CIA suspects used unusually sloppy tradecraft, leaving a paper trail of cell phone calls, car rental receipts and very expensive hotel bills. Legal experts suggest it means the operatives believe they had the green light from Italian authorities, a suggestion denied by the government at the time.
The current Italian government doesn't want this trial and has asked the constitutional court to throw it out on the grounds of protecting state secrecy. The trial was adjourned to June 18th so the judge Oscar Magi can decide whether to suspend proceedings until the constitutional court rules in the fall.
Lawyers for the Italian defendants also asked that the trial be held behind closed doors to insure their clients' anonymity. The judge turned down the motion as requested by prosecutor Armando Spataro, who stressed the need for transparency.
Mr. ARMANDO SPATARO (Prosecutor): (Through translator) It is of great social importance for the public to know these facts, which also involve the defense of human rights.
POGGIOLI: Montasser el-Zayat, an Egyptian lawyer representing Abu Omar, said his client, who is now under house arrest in Egypt, wants to be compensated morally and financially for the abduction and torture he was subjected to.
Mr. MONTASSER EL-ZAYAT (Lawyer): (Through translator) Abu Omar has lose 60 percent of his hearing and he needs a hearing aid. His spinal cord is injured and he suffers from depression.
POGGIOLI: Just as the trial got underway in Paris, the European human rights monitoring agency, the Council of Europe, issued a report contending that the CIA ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania despite their governments' denials.
It says terrorist suspects were subjected to sleep deprivation, water boarding or simulated drowning. The report also accuses Italy of obstructing investigations into alleged CIA secret detentions.
Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Milan.
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Trial Starts in Italy for 26 Accused in Cleric's Torture
Twenty-six U.S. citizens — most believed to be CIA operatives — and seven Italians went on trial in Italy on Friday on charges of kidnapping a Muslim terrorism suspect and flying him to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.
The defendants are accused of kidnapping cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, while he was walking to his mosque in Milan in February 2003.
Italian prosecutors contend that Nasr was abducted by the CIA and Italian intelligence agents, and was moved to U.S. bases in Italy and Germany before being taken to Egypt. Nasr was kept in custody in Egypt for four years, during which time he says he was tortured.
The trial opened the same day that a Swiss investigator charged that the CIA ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania where al-Qaida suspects were interrogated. And Thursday, six human rights organizations accused the United States of secretly imprisoning 39 terror suspects.
Swiss Sen. Dick Marty was asked by the Council of Europe to investigate CIA activities after reports of secret U.S. prisons came to light in 2005. On Friday, Marty issued his report, which said those held were subjected to harsh treatment, including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.
The U.S. citizens are being tried in absentia. Co-defendant Nicolo Pollari, Italy's former chief of military intelligence, was also absent from the proceedings.
During Friday's court proceedings, the judge granted a recess until June 18 so he could consider a defense request to suspend the proceedings. Defense attorneys want Italy's Constitutional Court to rule on a request by the Italian government to throw out the indictments in the interest of protecting state secrecy.
But prosecutor Armando Spataro asked the judge to allow the trial to continue, despite the case pending before the high court. "In a democracy, the separation of powers is critical," Spataro said.
He also denied any state secrets were involved in the preparation of the case.
If the trial does proceed, it would likely make public details of the U.S. "extraordinary rendition" program, which allows for terrorism suspects to be moved from one country to another without legal proceedings.
Nasr and his wife scored a small victory at Friday's hearing. Judge Oscar Magi ruled that they could be listed as injured parties. However, the judge rejected a motion that would have enabled the CIA and Italian intelligence to be held liable.
Written by Deborah Tedford with reporting by Sylvia Poggioli and The Associated Press.
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