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Tuesday June 07, 2005 20:31
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Jump To Comment: 1 2Judge wants to question U.S. troops on Iraq deaths
07 Jun 2005 13:16:21 GMT
Source: Reuters
MADRID, June 7 (Reuters) - A Spanish judge wants to question three U.S. soldiers as suspects in the death of a Spanish cameraman who was killed when a U.S. tank fired on a hotel housing foreign journalists during the 2003 assault on Baghdad.
The Pentagon has found no fault with the soldiers, but High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz wants to question the three men who were in the tank, a court official said on Tuesday.
Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsiuk died and several other people were injured by a shell fired on the Palestine Hotel in the Iraqi capital on April 8, 2003, in the U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein.
The Spanish court would only have jurisdiction in the death of the Spanish citizen.
The soldiers would be questioned as suspects for murder and for crimes against the international community, which carry sentences of 15 to years in jail and 10 to 15 years respectively.
Pedraz on Tuesday agreed to send a request for U.S. cooperation in the investigation, but he is still only in the initial stages of the criminal investigation and several steps away from bringing charges.
Pedraz's investigation stems from a complaint brought by the Couso family.
Legal sources say the U.S. Army is unlikely to grant access to the soldiers, and if the case ever got far enough to warrant arrests the soldiers could only be arrested in Spain.
The judge is willing to travel to the United States to take their statements, the court official said.
A Pentagon report on the incident concluded U.S.-led forces bore "no fault or negligence".
The Pentagon released a brief summary of the report in August 2003, which ruled that American forces acted "in an appropriate manner" when they fired into the hotel, but the full report was classified.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists obtained the 52-page report under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and said it strengthened its own finding that the hotel shelling could have been avoided.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman had no immediate comment.
Santiago Pedraz one of the Prosecution Judges (High court officials) of Spain made an order for the pursuit, capture and trial of 3 US army personel for the murder of José Couso yesterday.
In a statement which described the events as "truly criminal" and an "offence against the international community" the Judge declared the intention of teh Spanish state to "pursue" the plaintiffs noting the "lack of co-operation by the US judiciary in this matter".
In response, the US judiciary have said that they recognise the Spanish judiciary as sovreign and independent. & that any conclusions it reaches on the murder of the TV5 camaraman will "be its own".
http://www.europapress.es/europa2003/noticia.aspx?cod=20051020183547&tabID=1&ch=68
Of course, this might effect US / Spanish extradition and the previous privelages granted US citizens in spanish airspace, on spanish transport companies and in the territories of spain.
And naturally the US are now bringing pressure to bear on Judge Santiago Pedraz to drop the case.
http://www.iht.com/getina/files/283710.html
But Judeg Pedraz is probably like Judge Garzon and happy with the new reputation of Spanish justice to get it right on the international level.
We might reflect that the Spanish state has in the last month decreed a new law, giving it the right to put to trial anyone accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity anywhere. The spanish prosecution judges have half of the former US sponsored gobvernments of South america in their sights...
this comment has a latin title, because to my mind the timing of these latest developments must be seen in consideration of the *non independent and *non sovreign Iraqi "tribunal" not allowed for under its recently enshrined constitution of its former legal head of state. Saddam. So.... if you want to learn more about Latin legal terms go to that article and read it carefully.
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=72529&type=otherpress
I'll update on the Couso case.