ROME - An Italian prosecutor said Wednesday he expects to put 22 alleged CIA operatives on trial in abstentia before the end of the year over the abduction of a Muslim Imam from a Milan street.
"We believe we will be able to wrap up our investigation by mid-July," Milan investigating magistrate Armando Spataro told a news conference in Rome.
"A preliminary judge can take a decision within three months, and we think we will be able to go to trial by the end of the year," the magistrate said. The CIA agents, for whom the Milan prosecutor's office has issued arrest warrants, are suspected of having organised and carried out the kidnapping on February 17, 2003, of the former imam of a mosque in Milan.
At the time, Osama Mustafa Hassan -- also known as Abu Omar -- was under investigation in Italy as part of police anti-terrorist operations. After his abduction he was taken to Egypt where he claims to have been tortured.
The CIA operatives were spirited out of the country after the operation and have remained beyond the reach of Italian law. But Spataro is confident they can at least be brought to trial in abstentia.
"Our judicial system provides for a trial in abstentia with lawyers either named by the defendants or by the court. Therefore the trail could take place without problems," he said.
The prosecutor and his team have received little help from the US or Egyptian justice departments. Repeated requests to the Americans for help in identifying the agents "have received no response," Spataro said.
Likewise a request to the Egyptian authorities to interview Abu Omar went unanswered.
Among the 22 accused is a former official with the US consulate in Milan, Robert Lady.
05/31/2006 16:25 GMT