MADRID, Spain (Reuters):
A SPANISH High Court judge issued international arrest warrants yesterday for three U.S. soldiers over the death of a Spanish cameraman during the war in Iraq.
"I order the ... capture and arrest of the United States soldiers, with a view to extradition," High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz said in a court document, adding the order would be submitted to the international police organisation Interpol.
The three men were named as Sergeant Thomas Gibson, Captain Philip Wolford and Lieutenant-Colonel Philip De Camp.
Spanish prosecutors are expected to file an appeal against the judge's order today, a legal source said.
The source gave no details but state radio said prosecutors would seek to overturn it on the grounds that Pedraz lacked jurisdiction to seek the soldiers' extradition.
The United States has cleared the men of any blame, although it acknowledges a shell was fired from their tank into the Palestine Hotel where Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk were killed.
Three other Reuters staff were seriously injured in the shelling of the hotel, the base for almost all foreign journalists in Baghdad at the time. The incident in 2003 occurred a day before U.S. troops captured the city.
A U.S. investigation concluded the men were justified in opening fire and U.S. officials repeated that conclusion on yesterday.
"While this was certainly a tragic incident and we regret the loss of life, the report and investigation indicated that the soldiers acted in accordance with the rules of engagement during this time of war," a U.S. official told Reuters.
POLITICAL FALLOUT
Previously, both Pentagon and State Department officials have said privately that there is no way the soldiers would be sent to Spain for trial.
Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar said he did not expect Pedraz's ruling to have any political fallout.
Spain's relations with Washington were chilled by a decision by the new Socialist government last year to pull its troops from Iraq.
"It is a judicial order adopted by an independent court ... so it should in no way lead to any kind of political consequences," he told reporters.
Couso's brother, Javier, welcomed the ruling. "We don't want a lynching or anything of the kind, nor do we want them (the soldiers) judged beforehand. We want them to sit down before a court, with all the guarantees provided by the law," he told Cadena Ser radio.
Pedraz said an investigation had shown the three soldiers involved in the tank attack on April 8, 2003 could be responsible for murder and crimes against the international community. The charges carry jail sentences of 15 to 20 years and 10 to 15 years respectively.
The judge said he issued the warrants because U.S. authorities refused to cooperate.
The court had twice asked U.S. officials for help, requesting documents and offering to send a legal team to the United States to take statements from the three men, but neither request had been answered, he said.
The High Court took up the case after Couso's family filed a complaint.
Spain has a record of tackling controversial human rights cases. The High Court failed to extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, but earlier this year convicted Argentine former navy captain Adolfo Scilingo for crimes against humanity for his role in that country's so-called dirty war.
