The trial, which opened in June 2007, is the highest profile case involving the CIA's covert “extraordinary rendition” programme in which scores of terror suspects are thought to have been transferred to countries known to practise torture.
The Milan court will reconvene Wednesday, when Judge Oscar Magi will invite brief final remarks before withdrawing to deliberate, with a verdict expected the same day.
Observers said the verdict may not be known until as late as Friday, however.
Twenty-five 25 CIA agents and a US air force colonel were tried in absentia in the case, which also involved seven Italian secret service officials including the former head of military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, who was forced to quit over the affair.
Osama Mustafa Hassan, an imam better known as Abu Omar, was snatched from a Milan street on February 17, 2003, in an operation coordinated by the CIA and Italian military intelligence.
The radical Islamist opposition figure, who enjoyed political asylum in Italy, was allegedly taken to the US air force base in Aviano, northeastern Italy, then flown to the US base in Ramstein, Germany, and on to Cairo.
The imam's suspected captors failed to take many standard precautions, notably speaking openly on cell phones, leaving investigators to suspect that the Americans had cleared their intentions with senior Italian intelligence officials.
“No one could seriously argue that they were in Italy for other reasons” than to abduct Abu Omar and transfer him to Cairo via two US military bases, Spataro said in his closing arguments.
Spataro is seeking a 13-year jail term for former CIA chief Jeff Castelli and Pollari for their alleged role in the kidnapping.
He also argued that two former Italy-based CIA officials, Robert Lady and Sabrina De Sousa, should serve 12 years, while the officers believed to have been directly involved in seizing Abu Omar should spend 11 years behind bars.
Abu Omar's lawyer is demanding 10 million euros (14 million dollars) in damages for “humiliations that would be unimaginable for most human beings” when he was transferred to a high-security prison outside Cairo.
The Milan court will reconvene Wednesday, when Judge Oscar Magi will invite brief final remarks before withdrawing to deliberate, with a verdict expected the same day.
Observers said the verdict may not be known until as late as Friday, however.
Twenty-five 25 CIA agents and a US air force colonel were tried in absentia in the case, which also involved seven Italian secret service officials including the former head of military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, who was forced to quit over the affair.
Osama Mustafa Hassan, an imam better known as Abu Omar, was snatched from a Milan street on February 17, 2003, in an operation coordinated by the CIA and Italian military intelligence.
The radical Islamist opposition figure, who enjoyed political asylum in Italy, was allegedly taken to the US air force base in Aviano, northeastern Italy, then flown to the US base in Ramstein, Germany, and on to Cairo.
The imam's suspected captors failed to take many standard precautions, notably speaking openly on cell phones, leaving investigators to suspect that the Americans had cleared their intentions with senior Italian intelligence officials.
“No one could seriously argue that they were in Italy for other reasons” than to abduct Abu Omar and transfer him to Cairo via two US military bases, Spataro said in his closing arguments.
Spataro is seeking a 13-year jail term for former CIA chief Jeff Castelli and Pollari for their alleged role in the kidnapping.
He also argued that two former Italy-based CIA officials, Robert Lady and Sabrina De Sousa, should serve 12 years, while the officers believed to have been directly involved in seizing Abu Omar should spend 11 years behind bars.
Abu Omar's lawyer is demanding 10 million euros (14 million dollars) in damages for “humiliations that would be unimaginable for most human beings” when he was transferred to a high-security prison outside Cairo.
Posts
