A US soldier has today been put on trial in absentia, accused of shooting dead the Italian intelligence operative Nicola Calipari. Mario Lozano [of the 69th infantry regiment] opened fire on a vehicle carrying Calipari and Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena [of the communist Il Manifesto], at a checkpoint near Baghdad Airport, Iraq, in March 2005. The US military officially exonerated Lozano of the killing. [London Times, April 17]

From Madrid11.net Security Briefs, April 17

See our last post on Iraq, Italy and the Calipari affair.