180 Intersentia THE ITALIAN COURT OF CASSATION DELIVERS ITS RULING IN THE ABU OMAR CASE. THE COURT’S DECISION Pietro Insolera and Irene Wieczorek* his case note complements t he fuller contribution published in the last issue of this journal on the decision of the Italian Court of Cassation in the Abu Omar case. 1 Mr. Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr, aka Abu Omar, an Egyptian national, had been working in Milan, Italy, as an imam since 2000. In 2003 he was kidnapped by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives supported by several oicers from the Italian Military Intelligence and Security Service oicers (SISMI), 2 and sent to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured. Italian magistrates opened an investigation into the case, and on 4 November 2009 the Tribunal of First Instance convicted 24 American citizens of the crime of abduction and two Italian citizens for aiding and abetting ater the predicate crime. It further barred the prosecution of three American citizens, 3 on diplomatic immunity grounds and dismissed the indictment against ive Italian citizens on State secret grounds. 4 he decision was entirely conirmed, as far as legal reasoning is concerned, by the Court of Appeal on 15 December 2010, 5 and an appeal was brought before the Court of Cassation. * Pietro Insolera is a PhD student at Trento University, Irene Wieczorek is a PhD student at Vrije Universiteit Brussels. 1 I. Wieczorek, ‘he Italian Court of Cassation delivers its ruling in the Abu Omar case. What to expect from the decision?’, NJECL 2012, n. 3–4, p. 412 and f. 2 In Italian “Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare”, hence the acronym SISMi. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services approved on 1 August 2007, SISMI was replaced by Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna. Legislative Act No. 124/2007 of 3 August 2007. 3 here has been a separate appeal against this decision. he Milan Court of Appeal has only recently made its verdict public. It has not uphold the reasoning of the First Instance Court, and it has condemned the three CIA agents to respectively 7 (Castelli) and 6 (Russomando, Medero) years. he decision has not been made pubic yet. Against this decision there could be appeal before the Court of Cassation. See in the press: www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/02/201322045566149. html (ast accessed 5 February 2013). 4 Tribunale di Milano, decision n. 12428/09 of 4/11/2009. Decision in the Italian language available at: www.penalecontemporaneo.it/upload/Trib.%20Milano,%204.11.2009%20(sent.),%20Est.%20 Magi%20(Abu%20Omar).pdf (last accessed 4 February 2013). 5 Corte d’Appello di Milano, decision n. 3688/10 of 15/12/2010. Decision in Italian language available at: www.penalecontemporaneo.it/upload/C.%20App.%20Milano,%2015.12.10,%20caso%20Abu%20 Omar.pdf (last accessed 4 February 2012).