Italian, U.S. agents urge govts to stop CIA trial

MILAN (Reuters) - U.S. and Italian spies urged their governments on Tuesday to prevent them going on trial over the 2003 kidnapping of a terrorism suspect, as an Italian judge began hearing arguments on whether to indict them.

Judge Caterina Interlandi must decide if there is enough evidence for a trial. If so, it would be the first criminal procedure over renditions, one of the most controversial aspects of U.S. President George W. Bush's global "war on terrorism."

The agents are accused of involvement in abducting Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr and sending him to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

The suspects include 26 Americans, most believed to be CIA agents, and six Italians. None of the suspects attended Tuesday's closed-door courtroom hearing, lawyers said.

Any trial of the U.S. agents would almost certainly take place in absentia. Washington is not expected to hand them over.

Lawyers for two key suspects said their clients wanted Washington and Rome to resolve the matter.

A lawyer for former Milan CIA station chief Robert Lady said her client had refused to cooperate with the court proceedings, arguing the matter should be sorted out "state-to-state" -- not by a Milan tribunal.

"Robert Seldon Lady thinks this affair (should) have a political solution and not a judicial solution," Daria Pesce said. She withdrew as Lady's defense lawyer, saying her client did not recognize the court's authority in the case.

The judge appointed Lady a state defense attorney.

A lawyer for ex-Italian military intelligence chief Nicolo Pollari said Italy's current and former prime ministers, Romano Prodi and Silvio Berlusconi, should be brought to court to attest to state secrecy restrictions.

Pollari has said he could not prepare a reasonable defense since information proving his innocence was classified.

The case was adjourned until January 29.