An Italian who spent two months as a hostage in Iraq was on Friday sent to trial for illegally recruiting personnel for a foreign state.
Salvatore Stefio, 38, was indicted together with his former partner in the Seychelles-based recruiting company Presidium.
Stefio and two of the men he recruited spent 56 days in the hands of Iraqi hostage-takers in 2004.
One of their companions, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, was murdered two days after their capture by insurgents demanding Italy quit Iraq.
Quattrocchi, 36, became a national hero when the video of his slaying showed him facing his captors and saying ''I'll show you how an Italian dies''.