Thread: Italy judge convicts 25 in CIA kidnap case

Italy judge convicts 25 in CIA kidnap case
Case involved abduction of Egyptian terrorism suspect
2 commentsNov. 5, 2009 12:00 AM

MILAN - An Italian judge found 23 Americans and two Italians guilty Wednesday in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect, delivering the first legal convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA's extraordinary renditions program.

Human-rights groups hailed the decision and pressed President Barack Obama to repudiate the Bush administration's practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture was permitted. The American Civil Liberties Union said the verdicts were the first convictions stemming from the rendition program.

The Obama administration ended the CIA's program and shuttered its secret overseas jails in January but has opted to continue the practice of extraordinary renditions. The Americans, who were tried in absentia, now cannot travel to Europe without risking arrest. One of those convicted, former Milan consular official Sabrina De Sousa, accused Congress of turning a blind eye to the matter.
"No one has investigated the fact that the U.S. government allegedly conducted a rendition of an individual who now walks free and the operation of which was so bungled," she said, speaking through her lawyer Mark Zaid.

Despite the convictions capping the nearly three-year Italian trial, several Italian and American defendants - including the two alleged masterminds of the abduction - were acquitted due to either diplomatic immunity or because classified information was stricken by Italy's highest court.

The case has been politically charged from the beginning, with attempts to mislead investigators looking into the cleric's disappearance and derail the proceedings once the trial was under way.

Three Americans were acquitted, including the then-Rome CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli and two other diplomats formerly assigned to the Rome Embassy, as well as the former head of Italian military intelligence Nicolo Pollari and four other Italian secret service agents. Only two Italians were in the courtroom, including Marco Mancini, the former No. 2 at Italian military intelligence.

Former Milan CIA station chief Robert Seldon Lady received eight years in prison. The other 22 convicted American defendants, including De Sousa and Air Force Lt. Col. Joseph Romano, each received a five-year sentence. Two Italians got three years each as accessories.


http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... a1105.html

how long before obama, eric holder arrest them and send them to italy to serve their time?