Italy still wants justice from US for Iraq shooting

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http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=focusoniraq&xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/March/focusoniraq_March31.xml

ROME - Italy has raised the stakes in a spat with the United States over the killing by a US soldier of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq, saying Washington must set things right by assuming responsibility for the death.

Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema openly challenged the United States at a weekend commemoration of Nicola Calipari, the agent killed on March 4, 2005 at a US military checkpoint near Baghdad airport.

His speech made the national media, with headlines such as that in Sunday’s La Repubblica newspaper of Rome: ‘D’Alema accuses the United States over the Calipari case.’

Calipari became a national hero for securing freedom for kidnapped journalist Giuliana Sgrena. He died shielding her from gunfire at the checkpoint just after her release.

A Rome judge last month ordered the US soldier to stand trial for the killing but Washington has refused to hand him over and considers the case closed.