HRW: "The alleged kidnappers of an Egyptian cleric in 2003 will go on trial in Milan on April 16 in what is the first ever legal challenge to the CIA’s controversial rendition program, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the newly-elected Italian government to seek the extradition of 26 American CIA agents implicated in the abduction. [...] The Milan prosecution involves nine Italian defendants, who are being tried in person, and 26 American defendants, who are being tried in absentia. Human Rights Watch is concerned that trials in absentia do not afford defendants an adequate opportunity to present a defense. The Italian defendants include Gen. Nicolò Pollari, the former head of SISMI, Italy’s military intelligence service, who was forced to resign over Abu Omar’s abduction and rendition, and Pollari’s former deputy, Marco Mancini. The American defendants consist of 25 alleged CIA operatives – including former CIA Milan station chief Robert Seldon Lady and former Rome CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli – as well as US Air Force Lt. Col. Joseph Romano, who was stationed at the Aviano military base in northeastern Italy at the time the events occurred. Besides shedding light on the kidnapping itself, the trial may also highlight the ineffectiveness of the diplomatic assurances that the US government says it receives from states to which it renders suspected terrorists." More from the AP.

Posted by Laura at April 16, 2008 06:22 AM