The murder trial in absentia of US marine Mario Lozano, accused in the March 2005 shooting death of an Italian secret service agent Nicola Calipari, was adjourned yesterday to May 14.
An adjournment was requested both by Lozano's defense lawyer, who asserted that Lozano was unaware of the proceedings, and the plaintiffs' lawyers, which said a procedure for making former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld a civil party to the trial was still under way.
In a case that has strained relations between Rome and Washington, Specialist Mario Lozano's case was tried in a maximum-security courtroom on Rome's outskirts.
The agent, Nicola Calipari, was shot on March 4, 2005, on his way to the Baghdad airport shortly after securing the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena. Another agent, who was driving the car, and Sgrena were wounded.
Lozano was indicted in February on charges of murder and attempted murder.
In recent comments to the US media, Lozano defended his actions, saying he had no choice but to fire. He says he flashed a warning light signaling the vehicle to stop and that he shot first at the ground, and then at the car's engine.
"You have a warning line, you have a danger line, and you have a kill line," Lozano told the New York Post in an interview published earlier this month.
In another interview, Lozano told CBS: "I'm just an infantry soldier doing my job."
Reached by telephone late on Monday in New York, Lozano said he could not comment ahead of the trial.
Fabrizio Cardinali, Lozano's former court-appointed lawyer, said ahead of the trial that the shooting was the result of the Italians' "lack of caution."
"What happened was not the fault of the checkpoint, but the fault of the Italians who did not have any military escort," said Cardinali. Lozano's current lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
Rome has not sought Lozano's extradition, but the Pentagon has indicated that he would not be extradited anyway, saying it considered the incident a "closed matter."
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