U.S. Soldier to Be Tried in Italy
ROME (AP) - A judge Wednesday ordered a U.S. soldier to stand trial in absentia for the fatal shooting of an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Baghdad, the prosecutor said.
Spc. Mario Lozano is indicted for murder and attempted murder in the death of Nicola Calipari, who was shot on March 4, 2005, on his way to the Baghdad airport shortly after securing the release of an Italian journalist who had been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital, prosecutor Pietro Saviotti said.
Another agent, who was driving the car, and the journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, were wounded.
“This looks to me like the first step on a long road toward truth and justice, and I hope justice will come in the end,” said a visibly emotional Rosa Calipari, the agent’s widow.
Lozano was not at the hearing and his whereabouts are not known. Judge Sante Spinaci set his trial date for April 17.
According to prosecutors, the judge said in his ruling that Lozano can be tried for “political murder,” because Calipari was a civil servant and his slaying damaged Italy’s interests.
Italian law does not allow foreigners charged with killing Italians abroad to be tried in absentia unless the murder has political connotations, prosecutors have said in the past.
Full Story Here:
U.S. Soldier to Be Tried in Italy
Anyone that has followed my blog, this one and it’s predecessor, knows that I posted, and did a bit of ‘live blogging’ on this incident when it happened in Baghdad, you see, I have sources that were ‘close to the incident’ and had provided 1st hand reporting of what had happened, as it happened, and this is a case of well placed ‘anonymous sources’ that the MSM likes to use so often, that ‘journalistic’ thing is nice ya know…
All this is, as far as I am concerned, is a pathetic attempt by the Italian government to make the U.S. military look bad, this was a case of a soldier doing his job, the job he was sent to do…
There are no ‘extenuating’ circumstances, it was a flat out SCREW UP by the Italian Intel guys and their ‘Gunga Din - Black Ops’ rescue turned stupid…
February 7th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
[…] Original post by TexasFred and software by Elliott Back […]
February 7th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Absolutely correct there Fred…
“Prosecutors so far have not sought the soldier’s arrest. Lozano, a member of the New York-based 69th Infantry Regiment, has said through friends in the military that he had no idea the car was carrying the Italians.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said there are no plans to make Lozano available for the trial.”
They Damn well shouldn’t and must not. Extremely bad presedence. F-K’em!