Відповіді

• 2005.10.20 | Хома Брут

  загибель Т. Процюка в Багдаді - іспанський суд діє (NY Times)

  джерело:
  http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/international/europe/20spain.html
  
  Короткий зміст: іспанський суддя видав "міжнародний ордер" на арешт трьох членів екіпажу танка, що 8 квітня 2003 р. стріляв по готелю "Палестина" в Багдаді і смертельно поранив двох операторів: José Manuel Couso Permuy з іспанського телеканалу Telecinco та Тараса Процюка з Reuters. Суддя зявив, що троє можуть мати відношення до скоєння "злочину проти міжнародної спільноти". На протязі останніх 18 місяців американська сторона відмовлялась надавати інформацію по запитам іспанського суду. На даний момент невідомо, чи будуть військові формально звинувачені в злочині, чи вони потрібні як свідки.
  
  October 20, 2005
  Spain Orders G.I. Arrests in Civilian's Death
  By THE NEW YORK TIMES
  
  The New York Times
  
  MADRID, Oct. 19 - A Spanish judge issued an international arrest order for three American soldiers on Wednesday in connection with the killing of a Spanish journalist in Baghdad during the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
  
  The judge, Santiago Pedraz Gómez, of the National Court in Madrid, said the three might have committed murder and a "crime against the international community" on April 8, 2003, in Baghdad when an American tank fired a shell at the Palestine Hotel, where more than 100 journalists were staying.
  
  José Manuel Couso Permuy, a cameraman with the Spanish television station Telecinco, and Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian-born cameraman with Reuters, were fatally wounded in the blast.
  
  A Pentagon inquiry in 2003 concluded that the soldiers had been justified in firing as they had cause to believe the building was an enemy position, and had not known it was a hotel where journalists were staying.
  
  Many Spanish judges and investigators say countries should be free to pursue suspects beyond their borders. The United States has said that could lead to politically motivated show trials in countries that lack the legal safeguards of the United States.
  
  The judge wrote that the Bush administration had ignored two Spanish requests in 18 months for information on Mr. Couso's death.
  
  The documents do not make clear if the judge plans to indict the soldiers, Shawn Gibson, Philip Wolford, and Philip de Camp, all of the Army.

• 2005.10.20 | observer

  Молодці. От би в нас хтось подав (-)

  згорнути/розгорнути гілку відповідей

  • 2005.11.23 | Оk

    Re: Є інфа про те, що ніхто не подавав ?

    Хто має більше інфи про те, хто ініціював розгляд справи в США, тощо.
    Була б вдячна за посилання на відповідні джерела.
    згорнути/розгорнути гілку відповідей

    • 2005.11.24 | Горицвіт

      Деякі деталі

      International Herald Tribune
      THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005
      http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/26/opinion/edahlund.php
      
      Last week, a Spanish judge ordered the arrest of three American soldiers involved in an incident in Baghdad in which two journalists were killed.
      
      Judge Santiago Pedraz Gómez of the National Court in Madrid issued the arrest warrants after 18 months of silence by the Bush administration in response to the judge's requests for information about the death of a Spanish cameraman, José Manuel Couso Permuy.
      
      Cuoso and a Reuters journalist, Taras Protsyuk, were killed on April 8, 2003, when an American tank fired at the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad, where more than 100 journalists were staying.
      
      Another case: On June 23, 2005, an Italian judge ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents for the kidnapping and abduction of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in February 2003.
      
      According to the arrest warrants, the cleric was secretely transported by a CIA aircraft to a prison in Egypt, where his family claims that he has been subjected to torture.
      
      In both cases, the arrest warrants appear to have been a last resort by the Spanish and Italian judges to move investigations forward in the absence of any cooperation from the United States. U.S. officials have not responded to any of the warrants.
      
      An extradition request is normally not the first step in a cross-border criminal investigation.
      
      As in any criminal investigation, the availability of satisfactory information from various sources about the circumstances of a crime may absolve the suspect and result in having the case closed.
      
      But if information is not available by any other means, the only way to move the investigation forward may be to render the suspect available for questioning, if necessary by force.
      
      On June 25, 2003, the European Union and the U.S. government entered into an extradition agreement. The agreement was reached at the initiative of the United States.
      
      According to the preamble, the parties wish to "fight crime in a more effective way in order to protect their democratic societies and mutual values."
      
      Many EU member countries, including Italy and Spain, already have bilateral extradition treaties with the United States, and this new agreement is designed to harmonize existing agreements and to make the procedures faster and more effective.
      
      For the United States, the creation of a single agreement in relation to all 25 EU member countries will obviously mean a significant improvement in its efforts to fight terrorism and organized crime.
      
      The agreement will enter into force three months after it has been ratified by all member countries. The ratification process is still going on.
      
      --------------------
      
      і ще один текст:
      
      By Jeremy Bransten, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
      http://www.truthnews.net/month/2005100055.htm
      
      A Spanish judge has issued an arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers over the death of a Spanish journalist during the war in Iraq. The case of Jose Couso, a television cameraman for the Spanish network Telecinco, who died after being hit by a U.S. tank shell in April 2003, has been closely followed in his home country. A U.S. investigation has already cleared the three U.S. soldiers of any wrongdoing, but Couso's family and journalist-advocacy groups hope the judge's decision may force the United States to reconsider.
      
      Prague, 21 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Spanish television cameraman Jose Couso and his reporter colleague from Reuters news agency Taras Protsyuk were on the 15th floor of Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, documenting a historic moment on that fateful April morning in 2003: the arrival of U.S. troops in the center of the Iraqi capital.
      
      That's when a U.S. tank shell fired from the city below smashed the room to smithereens -- killing both men.
      
      The U.S. military initially said coalition forces were being targeted by snipers from the hotel building and were responding in self-defense. A Pentagon spokeswoman, later that same day, scolded the more than 100 other reporters working out of the same hotel who escaped injury. She said unembedded journalists -- that is, journalists not working alongside the U.S. military -- had no business being in Baghdad.
      
      The Pentagon, in its final investigation, softened its tone. It expressed regret for the incident, calling it a "tragic and regrettable accident." But it exonerated the three soldiers in the tank who fired the round. The case was closed.
      
      But not for Couso's family. Unhappy at the many questions left open by the case, they persuaded Spain's High Court in Madrid to open its own investigation.
      
      This week, Judge Santiago Pedraz concluded there was evidence that the three U.S. soldiers had violated international law by willfully firing on civilians. He issued an international arrest warrant for the three men -- identified as Sergeant Shawn Gibson, Captain Philip Wolford, and Lieutenant Colonel Philip de Camp -- and said he would ask for their extradition from the United States to Spain.
      
      Pedraz said he took the step after receiving no response to his repeated requests for cooperation from the U.S. authorities. So what happens next and will it impact diplomatic relations?
      
      Jose Manuel Suarez Robledano, spokesman for the Professional Association of Spanish Magistrates, told RFE/RL from Madrid that the situation is legally confusing.
      
      "At the moment, this warrant is very much up in the air because it runs up against an opposing ruling already made by the general state prosecutor," Robledano said. "So, the warrant is very debatable, and it must be confirmed by a superior court. Let's just say that the warrant is subject to, or has been put into doubt by, Spain's general state prosecutor."
      
      Despite strong public opinion in Spain against the war in Iraq and a wave of sympathy for Couso's family, Robledano said the government is keen to avoid any diplomatic rifts with the United States -- a feeling he shares.
      
      "Our relations with the United States must be good, they must be as good as possible as they have been for many years, and they shouldn't change," Robledano said. "And I hope that this decision does not effect our relations with a great country like the United States."
      
      The U.S. military initially said coalition forces were being targeted by snipers from the hotel building and were responding in self-defense.
      
      Journalist-advocacy groups, however, hope that the judge's decision may force the U.S. military to at least reopen its investigation into the Couso case and others as well.
      
      In the past two years, more journalists have died in Iraq than in 20 years of war in Vietnam. Out of some 100 deaths, almost 20 percent have involved the U.S. military, according to Aidan White, general secretary of the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists.
      
      "The Jose Couso case is one which we have been following very closely," White said. "It is one of about 18 deaths of journalists and media workers since the invasion of Iraq in which United States soldiers were involved and in which there are still unresolved questions. And the failure of the United States to properly investigate all of these cases has created a deep anxiety within journalism about the rights of the victims and about the way that democratic states deal with their responsibility in this area."
      
      White said the Couso case and the way it has been treated by the Pentagon is symptomatic of an attitude that must be changed if the United States is to maintain its reputation as a champion of democracy.
      
      "The responsibility of the United States in this matter is a very serious one," White said. "They really have to recognize that there is genuine anxiety about the way American troops have behaved in certain incidents. They really do have to come clean about what has gone wrong, if things have gone wrong. And they've got to have independent and inclusive investigations. None of that has properly happened in the particular case of Jose Couso. The International Federation of Journalists has said that. The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York has said that. All of the press-freedom organizations are saying that. The journalists involved in the whole incident are saying that as well. The only people who are not recognizing it properly are the United States authorities. And every April the 8th, there will be protests internationally about the failure of the U.S. to take its responsibility in this matter."
      
      A Pentagon spokesman said this week that the U.S. Central Command had no intention of reopening its investigation.
      
      
      
      
      Оk пише:
      > Хто має більше інфи про те, хто ініціював розгляд справи в США, тощо.
      > Була б вдячна за посилання на відповідні джерела.