Full Version: Lozano trial in Italy
An American soldier is being tried in absentia, in Italy, for an incident that happened in Iraq. We had a thread on this long ago. Now, courtesy of some moron who left the names on a released classified security document, the shooter is being tried for murder. This is an unusual case in many respects. First, I'm not sure if there is a precedent for this sort of trial, short of egregious crimes like genocide and terrorism. Any American visiting a foreign country is usually at the mercy of that country's justice system....unless the US sends them there, in which case they are protected by either SOFA agreement or diplomatic immunity, or subject to the LOAC during wartime conflict.
If they are crime victims the host government tries its own criminals, of course. As was the case recently in S Korea when a taxi driver picked an 18 year old female soldier up at the airport and raped her. In that case, the S Korean justice system let him go because there "wasn't enough evidence that it wasn't consentual". Apparently it's reasonable to assume that an 18 year old might find herself in Korea for the first time, get into a cab and find the middle aged kimchi-farting cab driver appealing enough to ask him to drive her to a remote location to have sex. Must have been the accent. But I digress...
Any Italian visiting overseas (again, unless the government sends them) is also at the mercy of the justice system in that host country. When my cousin visited Egypt and a cab driver drove away with his luggage, he certainly wasn't compensated or the cab driver in Egypt tried by Italian government in absentia. If a foreign person visiting Egypt had run him over, that person would have been tried by the court system in Egypt (unless Egypt was in the middle of a war, and the culprit was a foreign soldier subject to Geneva protocol).
A review of the facts: A journalist took it upon herself to go into a warzone. She was kidnapped, and the Italian government bargained for her release. She was then shot and the agent who released her killed after running a roadblock on the most dangerous road in Iraq. Anyone who wishes to can peruse the old thread I linked to above. The soldiers followed the law of armed conflict.
This isn't the first time the Italian justice system has tried an American in absentia. Oriana Fallaci, a now deceased author who lived in New York, was tried and convicted of hate speech. The difference in my mind is that Fallaci actually had dual citizenship. To my knowledge, the only thing Lozano has is an Italian name. Furthermore, the Italian justice system is obviously not trying any of the kidnappers for their crimes. They are rewarded.
Questions to be debated:
1. Does Italy have the legitimate authority to conduct this trial and is there any precedent for something like this?
2. Will this/ should this impact our relations with Italy?
3. Does this impact our relations with the EU? How about Italy's relations with the EU?
4. Will this set a precedent for more lawsuits in the future? And what might the impact/repercussions of that be?
Edited to add:Link to news article.
If they are crime victims the host government tries its own criminals, of course. As was the case recently in S Korea when a taxi driver picked an 18 year old female soldier up at the airport and raped her. In that case, the S Korean justice system let him go because there "wasn't enough evidence that it wasn't consentual". Apparently it's reasonable to assume that an 18 year old might find herself in Korea for the first time, get into a cab and find the middle aged kimchi-farting cab driver appealing enough to ask him to drive her to a remote location to have sex. Must have been the accent. But I digress...
Any Italian visiting overseas (again, unless the government sends them) is also at the mercy of the justice system in that host country. When my cousin visited Egypt and a cab driver drove away with his luggage, he certainly wasn't compensated or the cab driver in Egypt tried by Italian government in absentia. If a foreign person visiting Egypt had run him over, that person would have been tried by the court system in Egypt (unless Egypt was in the middle of a war, and the culprit was a foreign soldier subject to Geneva protocol).
A review of the facts: A journalist took it upon herself to go into a warzone. She was kidnapped, and the Italian government bargained for her release. She was then shot and the agent who released her killed after running a roadblock on the most dangerous road in Iraq. Anyone who wishes to can peruse the old thread I linked to above. The soldiers followed the law of armed conflict.
This isn't the first time the Italian justice system has tried an American in absentia. Oriana Fallaci, a now deceased author who lived in New York, was tried and convicted of hate speech. The difference in my mind is that Fallaci actually had dual citizenship. To my knowledge, the only thing Lozano has is an Italian name. Furthermore, the Italian justice system is obviously not trying any of the kidnappers for their crimes. They are rewarded.
Questions to be debated:
1. Does Italy have the legitimate authority to conduct this trial and is there any precedent for something like this?
2. Will this/ should this impact our relations with Italy?
3. Does this impact our relations with the EU? How about Italy's relations with the EU?
4. Will this set a precedent for more lawsuits in the future? And what might the impact/repercussions of that be?
Edited to add:Link to news article.
QUOTE(Mrs. Pigpen @ Apr 17 2007, 07:38 AM) 
1. Does Italy have the legitimate authority to conduct this trial and is there any precedent for something like this?
It doesn't seem as if Italy is conducting this trial but instead a judge who has wildly overstepped his boundaries. Sort of like if the Governor of NY attacked Africa to rid the world of "weird diseases". QUOTE(Mrs. Pigpen @ Apr 17 2007, 07:38 AM)
2. Will this/ should this impact our relations with Italy?
No. This is a stunt and it will never be upheld. The US and Italian Governments agree this was an unfortunate accident and that there was some culpability by the driver fo the car.QUOTE(Mrs. Pigpen @ Apr 17 2007, 07:38 AM)
3. Does this impact our relations with the EU? How about Italy's relations with the EU?
Again, this is something of a stunt. I don't think any impact will be had by this case.QUOTE(Mrs. Pigpen @ Apr 17 2007, 07:38 AM)
4. Will this set a precedent for more lawsuits in the future? And what might the impact/repercussions of that be?
QUOTE(BaphometsAdvocate @ Apr 17 2007, 11:27 AM)
It doesn't seem as if Italy is conducting this trial but instead a judge who has wildly overstepped his boundaries. Sort of like if the Governor of NY attacked Africa to rid the world of "weird diseases".
I don't think this is a simple case on par with your hypothetical. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alemo himself called for the US government's intervention in bringing Lozano to Italy to stand for trial. Rome is also where Italian soldiers would be tried for crimes, should they be accused. They don't have access to the same style of military court system our soldiers have.
QUOTE
His trial began in a courtroom inside Rome's maximum security prison, Rebibbia, the largest in the Italian capital. Seven empty cages flank the left side of the courtroom, normally used to hold high-security defendants.
I do agree that it's a politically motivated circus act, but a serious one for Lozano. The ramifications of a conviction (even in absentia) will have life-long implications which could ultimately result in his extradition or his being detained as a fugitive if he should venture outside the United States.
Edited to add: I just found a link so a more informative article on this matter.
QUOTE
According to Lozano, Carpani the driver told one of the soldiers at the scene that, as they approached the checkpoint, he had rolled down the window and was frantically waving his cell phone in his hand as a signal that he was coming through. However, says Lozano, even if the soldiers had seen the waving arm and cell phone through the blinding headlights, they could not have known that the driver was friendly. Cell phones, he says, are often used as detonating devices for car bombs; the driver's signal would have been perceived as a threat. He says that cell phones were immediately confiscated from stopped cars for this reason. After she returned to Italy, Sgrena told the press that she was not allowed to use her cell phone, which she claims was evidence that the military tried to cover up the fact that they attempted to kill her.
When he learned the full extent of the incident, Lozano says he raced to call his daughters before they saw the evening news. "I wanted them to hear it from me first," says Lozano. "All I think about is my kids, you know?" he says. "They are number one. My soldiers are number one too. I had to protect them. I don't know what I would do if I let something bad happen to any of them." The U.S. is not extraditing Lozano to the trial in Italy but, unless he is acquitted, he will never be able to travel anywhere in the European Union nor to any country with an extradition treaty with Italy. The American military says Lozano is not to blame for the death of Calipari but it has no plans to send an American lawyer to defend him in Rome.
When he learned the full extent of the incident, Lozano says he raced to call his daughters before they saw the evening news. "I wanted them to hear it from me first," says Lozano. "All I think about is my kids, you know?" he says. "They are number one. My soldiers are number one too. I had to protect them. I don't know what I would do if I let something bad happen to any of them." The U.S. is not extraditing Lozano to the trial in Italy but, unless he is acquitted, he will never be able to travel anywhere in the European Union nor to any country with an extradition treaty with Italy. The American military says Lozano is not to blame for the death of Calipari but it has no plans to send an American lawyer to defend him in Rome.
This issue really enrages me.
Here's a curious question, while I'm talking to myself on this thread....if the Italian government feels this soldier can be tried because they didn't agree with the investigation and acquittal, is that materially different than retrying a person who was acquitted because you don't like the verdict? Can we, using the Italian precedent, overrule Italian court rulings and retry cases we don't like the outcome of? Such as the recent one where they acquitted three north African men accused of recruiting suicide bombers to attack US soldiers in Iraq....not because they weren't guilty of the action, but because the Italian court decided this wasn't a terrorist offense.
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