Italy to try US soldier for agent's death in Iraq

ROME, Feb 7 (Reuters) A Rome judge ordered today a US soldier to stand trial on homicide charges for shooting dead an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq in 2005 as he was escorting a newly freed hostage to safety, prosecutors said.

Mario Lozano of the US Army's 69th Infantry Regiment was charged with voluntary homicide for shooting Nicola Calipari at a checkpoint near Baghdad airport.

He will be almost certainly tried in absentia as the US military has not revealed his location to Italy.

Lozano was also charged with two counts of attempted murder against another Italian agent driving the vehicle and the freed Italian hostage whom they were protecting.

Calipari became a national hero in Italy for securing the release of kidnapped left-wing journalist Giuliana Sgrena. He died shielding her from gunfire at a U.S. checkpoint.

His widow Rosa, now a member of the Italian Senate, said at the hearing in a criminal court that she was ''satisfied'' at the decision by Judge Sante Spinaci, but added: ''This is the first step in a long process. I hope we will eventually have justice.'' The freed journalist Sgrena told reporters: ''We don't want to make Mario Lozano the scapegoat, but we want to find out who was responsible and have justice.'' The trial will begin on April 17, said the prosecutors Alessandra Bruni and Pietro Saviotti.

The shooting of Calipari prompted an outcry in Italy and added to the unpopularity of then premier Silvio Berlusconi's decision to support the United States in Iraq. He eventually decided to withdraw Italian troops.

Rosa Calipari has denounced Washington for exonerating Lozano and Berlusconi's government for accepting that it was an accident. Rome did however criticise the US military for placing inexperienced troops at a poorly executed roadblock.

Lozano's Italian defence lawyer Fabrizio Cardinali said the decision surprised him: ''He (Lozano) was carrying out his duty, which is something that the judge did not consider relevant.'' REUTERS AB PM2028