Reuters: Spain reopens Iraq cameraman killing probe

[Eugene]

Spain reopens Iraq cameraman killing probe
05 Dec 2006 16:20:27 GMT
Source: Reuters

MADRID, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Spain could seek the extradition of three U.S. soldiers
after its Supreme Court said on Tuesday it had reopened a murder investigation
into the killing of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso during the Iraq invasion.

The Supreme Court overturned a decision earlier this year by a lower tribunal to
close the case brought by Couso's family, who had requested the arrest of the
three soldiers, a court spokesman said.

Couso, a cameraman for Spain's Telecinco television station, was killed when a tank
fired a shell at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on April 8, 2003. Reuters cameraman
Taras Protsyuk was also killed and three other Reuters employees seriously injured.

The lower court had ruled Spain did not have jurisdiction over what the family's
suit described as a "war crime" but the Supreme Court disagreed.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05643475.htm

[Kagemusha]

1. They do realize the US simply won't cooperate, right?

Like that CIA kidnapping trial Italy's judges are being asked to approve. There's not a chance that it'll actually happen, right? I mean, realistically, isn't this exactly what the US has threatened violence against allies and neutral countries over if it is attempted?

[Barrett808]

2. Spain reopens Iraq media killing (by US tank round)

Spain's supreme court has ordered a fresh investigation into the killing of a TV cameraman by US troops during the Iraq war more than three years ago.

Jose Couso, 37, died in April 2003 after a US tank fired on a hotel used by foreign journalists in Baghdad.

An attempt by his family to press charges was dismissed last year by a lower court in Spain.

But the Supreme Court accepted the family's appeal, potentially paving the way for an extradition request.

The family accept however that it will be difficult to bring the soldiers in question - Sergeant Thomas Gibson, Captain Philip Wolford and Lieutenant-Colonel Philip De Camp - to Spain.

(more)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6211268.stm

[enid602]

3. related

Was this incident related to our accidental bombing of the Baghdad Al Jazeera office, not to be confused with our accidental bombing of the Kabul Al Jazeera office?

[AlCzervik]

4. i'd also like to see the death of Mazen Dana looked into thoroughly.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/israel.palestine/dana.html

i had seen his work for years and was deeply saddened when he was killed.

[deadparrot]

5. Spain reopens Iraq media killing

Spain's supreme court has ordered a fresh investigation into the killing of a TV cameraman by US troops during the Iraq war more than three years ago.

Jose Couso, 37, died in April 2003 after a US tank fired on a hotel used by foreign journalists in Baghdad.

An attempt by his family to press charges was dismissed last year by a lower court in Spain.

But the Supreme Court accepted the family's appeal, potentially paving the way for an extradition request.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6211268.stm

[whistle]

6. I still believe there had been a direct order from up the chain of command

...to fire at that hotel and that specific set of floors housing journalists, and that there has been a cover-up ever since.

[hack89]

7. Why?

How exactly does deliberately killing journalist in front of other journalists benefit the Army?