Extradition from the United States to Italy—Update

Earlier this morning, we mentioned that Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli would not request the extradition from the United States of 22 CIA agents. At the time, the Milan prosecutor, Armando Spataro could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Spataro has just released a statement, however, and he will “reiterate the extradition request as soon as the new government is formed, convinced it will obtain a different decision from the next justice minister.”^[1] Romano Prodi has acknowledged that “he didn’t know the legal issues surrounding the case and couldn’t respond to a question about what his government would do with the matter, which could be an important test case for Italian-U.S. relations.”^[2] He has furthermore given no indication about who would make up his cabinet, and while he opposed the Iraq war, he “says he wants a ‘constructive’ relationship” with the US and that he “didn’t put [his] mind to” the CIA case.^[3]

---

[1] Victor L. Simpson, Italy Refuses to Send Extradition Request in Alleged CIA Kidnapping of Egypt Cleric, Associated Press, Apr. 12, 2006. (subscription only)
[2] Id.
[3] Id.