Trial on CIA Rendition Resumes in Italy

ROME - The trial of 26 Americans charged with kidnapping a terror suspect during an alleged CIA operation resumed Wednesday in Italy, despite a pending ruling by the country's highest court on a government challenge that could scuttle the case.

Hearings reopened in Milan after Judge Oscar Magi ruled the trial should continue, even though the Constitutional Court is still debating a request by the Italian government to throw out the indictments against the Americans, who are being tried in absentia.

Alessia Sorgato, a lawyer for several American defendants, said the judge had ordered the resumption of the proceedings to "guarantee a reasonable length of the trial."

"The judge made a very clear reasoning," she said in a telephone interview. Shortly after it opened in June, the trial was suspended pending the Constitutional Court ruling, and Magi had already extended the suspension.

Wednesday's hearing was largely devoted to technicalities, Sorgato said during a break.

She said a hearing at the Constitutional Court on the government challenge is scheduled for July 8, but that a decision is expected much later.

The suspects in the case- all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents - are accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terror suspect from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003, in an operation coordinated by the CIA and Italian intelligence.

Italian prosecutors say Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was transferred to U.S. bases in Italy and Germany before being moved to Egypt, where he was imprisoned for four years. Nasr, who was released last year, said he was tortured.

Seven Italians also were indicted in the case, including Nicolo Pollari, the former chief of military intelligence. Pollari has denied any involvement by Italian intelligence in the abduction.

The Constitutional Court must rule on whether the kidnapping trial will be permitted to publicly air details of the U.S. extraordinary rendition program, which involved moving terrorism suspects from country to country without public legal proceedings.

In its challenge, the Italian government contends the prosecution unlawfully relied on state secrets to justify the charges. The high court also plans to hear a challenge charging that prosecutors went too far by wiretapping Italian intelligence agents indicted in the case.

The 26 Americans have left Italy, and a senior U.S. official has said they would not be turned over for prosecution, even if Rome requests it.

The Italian government has not responded to prosecutors' requests to seek the extradition of the Americans, and the Justice Ministry has indicated the Constitutional Court's ruling would be a key factor.