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CIA rendition trial opens

MILAN: The first trial involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme opened in Italy on Friday in the absence of all 26 American defendants accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terrorist suspect.

The trial, which has been an irritant in the historically robust U.S.-Italy relationship and coincides with the arrival in Rome of U.S. President George W. Bush, was not expected to start in earnest, however.

The Government has asked Italy's highest court to throw out indictments against 26 Americans — all but one of them believed to be CIA agents — accused of abducting Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on February 17, 2003.

The Constitutional Court is expected to consider that and another similar appeal in the autumn, and participants in the trial said they expected defence requests to postpone the trial until after the high court rules.

A trial has the potential to publicly air details about the U.S. renditions — moving terrorism suspects from country to country without public legal proceedings — a consequence that has been heralded by critics of the practice. It also has the power to embarrass the intelligence community over the handling of a highly secret operation.

Italian defendant Luciano di Gregori, who worked at the Italian intelligence agency at the time of the abduction, professed his innocence.

``I have been doing this work for 33 years,'' he told reporters. ``I did it with my head held high and in the full light of day. '' — AP

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