U.S.Will Not Send CIA Agents to Italy Without Assurances

The United States will reject any extradition requests by Italy for the CIA agents involved a U.S. "extraordinary renditions" criminal trial, a U.S. government lawyer said on Wednesday.^[1] "We've not got an extradition request from Italy.... If we got an extradition request from Italy, we would not extradite U.S. officials to Italy," U.S. State Department legal adviser John Bellinger said, he then added that the United States would never hand over a suspect to another country without assurances about their treatment.^[2]

Bellinger acknowledged the widespread European concern about the tactics of the Bush administration in the "war on terror," but said the risk of legal action against U.S. officials in Europe was harming intelligence cooperation.^[3] "The continuing threat of criminal charges not only harms cooperation on our end but does also cast a pall over cooperation on the European side as well," he said.^[4]

Bellinger's remarks were not surprising given the U.S. aggressive approach in the war on terror; the indictees will most likely stand trial in absentia on June 8.^[5] Among those indicted for the 2003 abduction are Jeff Castelli, former CIA chief in Rome, former CIA Milan station chief Robert Lady and a former head of Italy's SISMI military intelligence agency, Nicolo Pollari.^[6]

We have previously discussed the CIA extraditions to Italy, here.
We have previously discussed Extraordinary Renditions, here.

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^[1] U.S. says it will not extradite CIA agents to Italy, Reuters, February 28, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.