Italian prosecutors start making closing arguments at CIA trial in Milan
By APWednesday, September 23, 2009
Prosecutors make closing arguments at CIA trial
MILAN — Prosecutors are making closing arguments in the trial of 26 Americans and seven Italians accused of orchestrating a CIA-led kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect.
Prosecutor Armando Spataro’s arguments Wednesday signal the final phase of the first trial in any country involving the CIA’s extraordinary renditions program.
A verdict is expected by year’s end.
Prosecutors say the 26 Americans, mostly CIA agents, organized the February 2003 kidnapping of Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr from Milan.
Prosecutors say terror suspect Nasr was eventually flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. Nasr has since been released but remains in Egypt and has not testified at the trial.
The Americans are being tried in absentia.
