US Soldier Indicted in Baghdad Shooting of Nicola Calipari

ROME, Italy (BBC News) Feb. 7, 2007 – An Italian judge has ordered a US soldier to face trial over the death of an Italian intelligence agent in a car at a checkpoint in Baghdad. Nicola Calipari, 51, was shot in March 2005 as he escorted Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to the airport after securing her release from kidnappers.

Nicola Calipari, a highly decorated SISMI agent,
was mourned as a national hero in Italy

The soldier, Mario Lozano, will face a charge of murder in a case that put serious strain on US-Italian relations. He will probably be tried in absentia as he has been cleared in the US.

‘First step’

Spc Lozano, of the New York-based 69th Infantry Regiment, is indicted for murder and attempted murder.

A second Italian agent, who was driving the car, and Ms Sgrena were wounded.

Mr Calipari’s widow, Rosa, said: “This looks to me like the first step on a long road toward truth and justice, and I hope justice will come in the end.”

Ms Sgrena said: “We don’t want to make Mario Lozano the scapegoat, but we want to find out who was responsible and have justice.”

Nicola Calipari was an unknown Italian secret agent, close to completing another successful mission for his country. A few hours and a selfless and fatal act later, he had become a hero mourned by his entire nation.

Calipari was on the verge of delivering Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to safety after her hostage ordeal in Iraq, when their car came under US army fire.

She recalled that he “fell on top of me to protect me, and immediately, I repeat immediately, I felt his last breath and he died on top of me”.

The coffin of Italian information officer Nicola Calipari,
draped in the Italian flag, is carried outside the Vittoriano
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument in Rome. (AP)

Italy ‘did deal to free hostages’

Italian aid workers, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, were held hostage for three weeks in September 2004

The Italian Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents to secure the release of two Italian women held hostage last year, a Red Cross official has said.