Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: January 29, 2007 7:24:46 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Italy: Court May Indict American CIA Agents for "War Crimes"
Former CIA station chief has Italian villa seized
By Colleen Barry
Star-News (North Carolina), January 27, 2007
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070127/
NEWS/701270343/-1/State
Milan, Italy | Magistrates have seized a villa in northern Italy
belonging to a former CIA station chief who faces a possible
indictment in the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric,
officials said Friday.
The villa in the northwestern Piedmont region belonging to Robert
Seldon Lady will be held until the end of the trial. In the case of
a conviction, it will be sold to pay for court costs and possibly
damages to the injured party, said prosecutor Armando Spataro.
The order by magistrate Enrico Manzi applies to half the villa, the
news agency ANSA reported, because Lady's wife is listed as co-
owner, meaning authorities would be entitled to half of any sale
price. Lady's former lawyer, Daria Pesce, said earlier this month
that he intended to sell the villa. He is believed to be in the
United States.
A preliminary hearing to decide whether to indict 26 Americans and
five Italian intelligence officials on criminal charges will
continue Monday in Milan.
A trial would be the first criminal prosecution involving the CIA's
extraordinary rendition program, in which terror suspects are
secretly transferred for interrogation to third countries where
critics say they may face torture.
Pesce withdrew from the case earlier this month, saying statements
by Italian spymasters implicating U.S. agents had undermined her
attempts to head off a criminal trial.
Lady was still in Italy when the case broke, and his villa in the
Asti wine region was searched by police.
