WORLD
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| 23 Americans Convicted in Italy-CIA Case |
MILAN, Italy, Nov. 4, 2009
Updated at 3:52 p.m. EDT
An Italian judge on Wednesday convicted 23 Americans of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric on a Milan street , in a landmark case involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program in the war on terrorism.
Citing diplomatic immunity, Judge Oscar Magi told the Milan courtroom Wednesday that he was acquitting three other Americans.
Former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady, received the stiffest sentence, eight years in prison. The other 22 convicted American defendants each received a five-year sentence.
The Americans, all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents, were tried in absentia. Their lawyers entered innocent pleas on their client's behalf. They are considered fugitives from Italian justice.
"This is largely symbolic because the Americans never showed up and it's unlikely our government is somehow going to hand them over now. But the symbolism, especially in the Arab world, will be and is very intense,"
An Italian judge on Wednesday convicted 23 Americans of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric on a Milan street , in a landmark case involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program in the war on terrorism.
Citing diplomatic immunity, Judge Oscar Magi told the Milan courtroom Wednesday that he was acquitting three other Americans.
Former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady, received the stiffest sentence, eight years in prison. The other 22 convicted American defendants each received a five-year sentence.
The Americans, all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents, were tried in absentia. Their lawyers entered innocent pleas on their client's behalf. They are considered fugitives from Italian justice.
"This is largely symbolic because the Americans never showed up and it's unlikely our government is somehow going to hand them over now. But the symbolism, especially in the Arab world, will be and is very intense,"
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