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US Soldiers' Spanish Indictment Appealed
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Prosecutors on Friday appealed a judge's decision to charge three U.S. soldiers with homicide in the death of a Spanish journalist in Iraq, a court official said. Prosecutors at the National Court said the troops from the U.S. 3rd Infantry, based in Fort Stewart, Ga., committed no crime when their tank fired a shell at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel in 2003, killing Jose Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco, and Taras Portsyuk, a Ukrainian cameraman for Reuters. The prosecutors characterized the attack as an accident of war, said a court official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
Investigating magistrate Santiago Pedraz charged Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip DeCamp with homicide and "a crime against the international community" - defined under Spanish law as an indiscriminate or excessive attack against civilians during war - for firing at the Palestine Hotel, where many journalists were staying. Following the incident, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said American troops had responded to hostile fire from the hotel. He said a U.S. review of the incident found the use of force was justified. Pedraz has issued several arrest warrants against the three soldiers, but the United States has made clear it will not hand them over. The soldiers still run the risk of arrest under a Spanish-issued international warrant should they travel to any country that has an extradition accord with Spain. The next step is for Pedraz himself to decide whether he accepts or rejects the prosecutors' appeal. Posted by: Steve White 2007-05-20 |
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