Italian trial of CIA agents will continue, judge rules

The landmark trial of American and Italian spies accused of abducting an Egyptian cleric in Milan will continue, a judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting a defense bid to end the proceedings.

The decision was a victory for prosecutors pursuing the first trial to examine the so-called rendition process, in which the CIA allegedly abducted suspects abroad and sent them to third countries for harsh interrogation. But the ruling benefits two former Italian spy chiefs because it upholds a Constitutional Court judgment in March excluding evidence on the grounds of state secrecy.

“The most important thing is the fact that the trial goes on, but it’s clear that the court ruling has imposed some surgical cuts,” said Armando Spataro, the lead prosecutor, in an interview. “We will have to see, due to the limitations that have been imposed, which part of the interrogations we will be able to use.”

Judge Oscar Magi ruled that state secrecy laws limited the use of evidence about contacts between the CIA and Italy’s spy agency, then known as the SISMI. Magi also cited state secrecy in rejecting requests for the testimony of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his predecessor, whose governments have tried repeatedly to scuttle the prosecution.

The American defendants consist of 25 known or suspected CIA operatives -- among them former chiefs in Italy -- and an Air Force colonel. They are being tried in absentia.

CIA officials allegedly enlisted the seven Italian defendants to help abduct a Muslim imam known as Abu Omar off a Milan street in 2003. He was allegedly flown by private jet to Egypt, where, he says, he underwent torture, suffering electric shocks and sexual abuse while held for months in a rat-infested cell.

The two-year trial has offered a rare detailed look at the secret world of intelligence work. There has been testimony alleging rogue conduct and feuds pitting U.S. and Italian field supervisors who opposed the abduction against bosses who allegedly punished dissenters.

Spataro said the case against most of the Americans remained strong because it was built before the investigation led to the SISMI and resulted in charges against its chief, Nicolo Pollari, and his deputy, Marco Mancini.

Mancini’s lawyer said the ruling on state secrecy had demolished the evidence against his client. “Absolutely nothing remains,” said the lawyer, Paolo Panella.

The alleged CIA operatives were identified through a sloppy trail of phone calls, credit card activity and identification documents left in the four months they allegedly stalked their target.

In a recent development, an American defendant accused of playing a lead role went public to assert her innocence. Last week Sabrina de Sousa sued the U.S. State Department and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, demanding that American officials defend her against the charges and declare diplomatic immunity to protect her from arrest overseas.

The lawsuit describes De Sousa as a naturalized U.S. citizen born in India in 1955 and a veteran diplomat who began working in Italy in 1998. It denies that she was involved in the alleged rendition, saying she was on a ski vacation 130 miles away at the time.

U.S. officials ordered De Sousa not to discuss the case with the news media or communicate with her Italian court-appointed lawyers, according to the lawsuit. It alleges that the government did not provide her with legal help and did not permit her to travel overseas to visit relatives, many of whom live in India and Canada.

“De Sousa’s ability to travel and pursue her chosen career is effectively in ruins by no fault of her own,” the lawsuit says. It adds that “European media outlets have published articles providing inaccurate descriptions of De Sousa, alluding to the notion that she was the principal planner of the kidnapping.”

De Sousa resigned from the State Department in February, the suit says.

Despite the denials, Italian police and intelligence chiefs have testified that De Sousa was a top CIA official in Italy and was instructed to make sure the agency’s chief in Milan, a critic of the alleged Abu Omar rendition, followed orders, according to trial transcripts.

--

rotella@latimes.com