Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Il "problematico" Spataro

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-italyspy7jul07,1,2889730.story
[...]
Spataro's work has been especially problematic for the CIA and its allies
in Italy. In contrast to law enforcement officials in other European
countries where the agency is believed to have carried out similar
extraordinary renditions, Spataro is attempting to prosecute CIA
operatives.
[...]
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copincolliamolo tutto, che non è male.
Italian Probe Broadens Beyond Abduction
Prosecutors in the case of a Muslim cleric seek evidence of illegal spying
by intelligence officers. Some journalists also may be involved.
By Tracy Wilkinson, Times Staff Writer
July 7, 2006 
ROME — What began as an investigation of the alleged CIA abduction of a
radical Muslim cleric has mushroomed into a wider probe of possibly illegal
domestic espionage by Italian intelligence agents compiling dossiers on
judges, journalists and prosecutors.
Investigators raided the files of one intelligence agency Thursday, and
journalists figured into the growing scandal as both the purported spies
and the purported spied-upon. 
ADVERTISEMENTProsecutors who had two senior Italian intelligence officials
arrested Wednesday in connection with the CIA case plan to interrogate six
other officers from the same agency, known as SISMI, sources familiar with
the widening probe said Thursday. The arrests were the first official
acknowledgment of Italian involvement in the 2003 abduction of the cleric,
who has said he was tortured after he was transported to Egypt. 
Developments in that case sent shock waves through Italy's political
establishment. But it now appears that activities by the intelligence
agency, or a unit within it, went further into murky and possibly illegal
territory. 
Prosecutors suspect that SISMI agents were carrying out surveillance on
journalists, magistrates and businesspeople and collecting the data in a
massive secret archive at a government building in Rome, the sources said.
Police began raiding offices housing the archive Wednesday and continued
Thursday, hauling out loads of files and computer disks.
The sources requested anonymity because their information involved an open
case.
The prospect that SISMI may have been engaged in an illicit domestic spying
operation has raised serious questions about the roles of Nicolo Pollari,
the agency's chief, and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. There were
calls Thursday for a parliamentary inquiry.
Under Italian law, the country's secret services must inform judges before
they investigate citizens connected to suspected crimes. SISMI is the
military intelligence agency, one of three secret services. 
"There is undoubtedly a need to discuss reforming the services," Interior
Minister Giuliano Amato said Thursday as reporters questioned him about the
new revelations. Amato said Italy must confront "the usual problem
concerning the definition of a clear legal framework for intelligence
operations."
"It is important to clearly define the limits" within which intelligence
operations can be carried out, he said. 
Among the material found in the archive was a file on crusading
investigative reporter Giuseppe D'Avanzo of the leftist newspaper La
Repubblica, people familiar with the probe said. D'Avanzo has reported
numerous intelligence scandals, including one involving documents that
purported to show Iraq was buying nuclear material from Niger, an
allegation that figured into Washington's argument for war in Iraq but
turned out to be false. 
Prosecutors based in Milan discovered the archive as they deepened their
investigation of the No. 2 SISMI official, Marco Mancini, in connection
with the CIA abduction case. Mancini was one of two Italian spymasters
arrested Wednesday on suspicion of having helped CIA operatives plan and
execute the "extraordinary rendition" of cleric Hassan Osama Nasr, also
known as Abu Omar, from the streets of Milan in February 2003.
Among other elements of the case, prosecutors are investigating whether
SISMI used friendly journalists to spy on unfriendly magistrates. Reporters
with Libero, a small right-wing newspaper in northern Italy, are suspected
of setting up interviews with the lead prosecutor in the abduction case,
Armando Spataro, to inquire about what he had learned, and then passing the
information to SISMI agents.
One of the Libero journalists, Claudio Antonelli, was interrogated by
prosecutors in Milan for four hours Thursday, the Italian news agency ANSA
reported. Editors for the paper have denied wrongdoing. Its offices were
raided Wednesday by police working for the prosecutors.
Spataro's work has been especially problematic for the CIA and its allies
in Italy. In contrast to law enforcement officials in other European
countries where the agency is believed to have carried out similar
extraordinary renditions, Spataro is attempting to prosecute CIA
operatives. 
He has issued arrest warrants for 26 Americans whom he has accused of being
part of the Abu Omar operation, including the former CIA station chief in
Rome, even though the Berlusconi government tried to shut the prosecutor
down. None of the Americans are in Italy, and none have been detained. 
The transcripts of law enforcement wiretaps published in Italian newspapers
showed that Mancini and other SISMI officers referred to Spataro as il
cretino — the cretin. Mancini also can be heard, according to one of the
transcripts, saying he lied about involvement in the Abu Omar case. 
Mancini was expected to be interrogated by prosecutors today. He said
Thursday through his lawyer that he "trusted in justice" and was confident
that his innocence would become clear.
Part of the case that Spataro is building, according to sources familiar
with it, relies on testimony from Col. Stefano D'Ambrosio, former head of
SISMI's Milan office. He purportedly has said that he was removed from the
position and replaced by Mancini after he voiced objections to the plan to
seize Abu Omar, which he also discussed with the Milan CIA station chief.
Berlusconi, a supporter of the Bush administration who lost reelection to a
center-left coalition in April, has denied knowledge of the Abu Omar
operation. 
The CIA has not officially acknowledged its role, but officers have said
privately that the operation was conducted with Italian officials' approval
and cooperation.
Italy's new foreign minister, Massimo D'Alema of the Democratic Party of
the Left, said in comments published Thursday that the entire matter needed
to be fully investigated. 
"The Americans have always said they never violated Italian sovereignty,"
he told the Corriere della Sera daily newspaper. "Perhaps they were not
entirely wrong." 
But he drew a line on what SISMI should be allowed to do under the new
government. 
"At what point is it legitimate, in the fight against terrorism, to negate
the values you are fighting for?" D'Alema said. "One of the principles of
Italian foreign policy will be to promote the defense of human and
democratic rights as universal values." 
But others said intelligence agents must have a freer hand to fight
terrorism. 
"Is this supposed kidnapping worth weakening our national security in the
fight against terrorism?" said former President Francesco Cossiga, who
visited the SISMI headquarters in Rome on Thursday as a gesture of
solidarity.