The prosecutor's office here has ended its investigation into the death of an Italian intelligence officer in Iraq and is now expected to seek the indictment of a United States marine for murder.
Nicola Calipari was killed on March 4, 2004 when US troops manning a temporary roadblock opened fire on a car carrying him, another agent and a released hostage to Baghdad airport. The ex-hostage, reporter Giuliana Sgrena, and the driver, intelligence agent Andrea Carpani, were injured in the incident. Prosecutors will ask that the marine, the only soldier to fire on the car, also be charged with attempted murder, well informed sources said
Prosecutors identified the marine as Mario Lozano, 35.
A joint investigation by Italian and US military experts failed to reach a shared conclusion, with the American members clearing the soldiers of all responsibility and the Italians blaming the US's organisation of the roadblock. American authorities later never replied to requests from investigators in Rome for the names of the soldiers manning the roadblock.
However, Italian investigators were able to identify Lozano thanks to a youth in Bologna who used a simple computer program to uncover the name which had been 'blacked out' in the joint report.
Lozano was later found to be a resident of the Bronx in New York city, the father of two and a member of the New York National Guard.
The Toyota Corolla in which Calipari and the others two were travelling came under 'friendly fire' from a temporary roadblock manned by ten US soldiers on their first day of service. Ballistic evidence gathered from the car by Italian experts indicated that only one weapon had been used but that it had fired two separate rounds of machine gun fire.
This led investigators here to conclude that it was the intention of the person firing the gun to kill those inside the automobile.
According to the American investigation, the car was travelling at high speed, about 80kmh, and the driver panicked.
The US military claimed the driver failed to stop or slow down when soldiers flashed a spotlight, shone a green laser onto the car's windscreen and fired warning shots. The soldiers stuck to the rules of engagement for this sort of situation and therefore no action should be taken against them, the US said.
US military authorities also claimed they had not been informed of Calipari's mission and the soldiers knew nothing. Better coordination could have prevented the death, they said.
In an Italian probe, the agent driving the car told Rome prosecutors that it was travelling at 70kmh when it hit a ditch and slowed down. Both the agent driving and the released hostage told investigators that the spotlight came on and the shots started at the same time, without any warning.
The two Italians involved in the joint enquiry refuted the claim that rules of engagement were respected, arguing that there were no set procedures for the mobile 'blocking point' which the soldiers had set up.
According to the Italians, the US soldiers were under stress and inexperienced.
Italian General Mario Marioli said he informed the US's liaison officer in Iraq that the car carrying the released hostage was heading for Baghdad airport at 20.30 on March 4, 20 minutes before the car came under fire.
