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March 12, 2009

Italy Court Dismisses Evidence in CIA Kidnap Trial
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Italy’s top court has dealt prosecutors a major setback in the trial
over the CIA kidnapping of the Egyptian cleric Abu Omar. Twenty-six
Americans are being tried in absentia along with several former Italian
intelligence officials. On Wednesday, Italy’s Constitutional Court threw
out most of the evidence in the case on the grounds prosecutors have
violated so-called “state secrecy.” Omar was seized on the streets of
Milan in 2003 and taken to US bases in Italy and Germany before being
sent to Egypt. He says he was tortured there during a four-year
imprisonment.



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