Italy's high court sinks CIA rendition case By ARIEL DAVID

[Demeter]

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ROME (AP) — Italy's highest court sided with the government Wednesday and threw out key evidence in an alleged CIA kidnapping of an Eygptian terrorism suspect in Italy, dealing a blow to the trial of 26 Americans charged in the case. The Constitutional Court ruled that prosecutors impermissibly used classified information to build the case that led to indictments in the 2003 abduction.

Though the judges did not formally throw out the indictments, lawyers said the ruling would at least set the case back. State lawyer Massimo Giannuzzi said prosecutors would have to seek new indictments based on the remaining evidence or reopen the investigation.

"We are quite satisfied," Giannuzzi said. "There will have to be a new preliminary hearing to decide if the remaining evidence is enough for new charges."

The American suspects — all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents — were accused with seven Italian agents of kidnapping an Egyptian citizen from a Milan street Feb. 17, 2003, in an "extraordinary rendition" operation coordinated by the CIA and Italy's SISMI military intelligence.

Prosecutors say the terrorism suspect, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was taken to U.S. bases in Italy and Germany before being moved to Egypt, where he was imprisoned for four years. Nasr, who has been released, said he was tortured.

The Italian government denies any role in the operation. The CIA has declined to comment on the case.

The trial in Milan was suspended pending the Constitutional Court's ruling, which had been delayed several times. When the trial resumes, Judge Oscar Magi must turn over evidence deemed classified, notably thousands of dossiers on prominent public figures seized from the Rome apartment of a SISMI agent, Pio Pompa.

Also thrown out was testimony by Luciano Peroni, an intelligence officer allegedly at the scene of the kidnapping.

The ruling was "a victory for the state attorney," said Alessia Sorgato, a lawyer defending several of the Americans. He said Peroni's testimony was "fundamental" to the prosecution's case.

However, most of the stricken evidence pertained to the Italian defendants, and Sorgato said it was still possible that the case against the Americans could continue.

She said the picture may become clearer once the court gives its reasoning on the decision, which may take weeks....