Italian government lawyers seek to annul indictments in kidnapping

ROME -- Lawyers for the Italian government appealed to a top court seeking to annul the indictments against 26 Americans -- mostly CIA agents -- and several Italians who face trial in Milan in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terrorist suspect, a lawyer said Friday.

Attorneys for the state claim that the judiciary -- in this case, the Milan judge who issued the indictments -- overstepped its authority, relying on secret documents and violating state secrets, said Luigi Panella, a lawyer for Italian secret service agent Marco Mancini, who also was ordered to stand trial.

Prosecutors in Milan declined to comment.

The Constitutional Court, which also is examining a previous, similar appeal saying prosecutors had overstepped their authority, was expected to discuss the case April 18.

"We will respect the decision of the Constitutional Court," Panella said.

The Americans and Italian agents were indicted in February in the kidnapping of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003. Their trial is scheduled to open in June.

It would be the first criminal trial stemming from the CIA's extraordinary rendition program to secretly transfer terror suspects to third countries, where critics say they may have been tortured.

Italian prosecutors say Nasr -- suspected of recruiting fighters for radical Islamic causes -- was kidnapped from the streets of Milan in February 2003 by CIA agents with help from Italian agents. He was allegedly taken to Aviano Air Base near Venice, then to Ramstein Air Base in southern Germany, and finally to Egypt, where he was imprisoned for four years until Feb. 11. Nasr said he was tortured.

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

Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi has maintained that his government and Italian secret services were not informed about the operation and did not take part in it.

Premier Romano Prodi's government, while so far making no decision, has signaled that it would not press Washington on an extradition request.

The Italian government has tried to avoid souring relations with Washington following the indictments of the 26 Americans and, in a separate case, of a U.S. soldier who shot dead an Italian intelligence officer in Baghdad in 2005.