Decision of the Court of Cassation, I Criminal Section, No. 20447 of 24 February 2014

With decision No. 20447/2014, the Supreme Court of Cassation annulled the decision that sentenced Mr Nicolò Pollari and some other members of the Italian SISMI intelligence for complicity in the abduction of Abu Omar, a suspected terrorist kidnapped in Italy by CIA agents in the framework of an ‘extraordinary rendition’ operation. With an earlier decision, the Supreme Court had reputed that the opposition of state secrecy made by Italian government with regard to certain documents concerning the case did not prevent the utilization of a part of the evidences collected in the proceeding, which led to sentence the SISMI agents. Subsequently, the Constitutional Court was asked to settle the conflict of powers between the Executive and the judiciary and stated that state secrecy is at the discretion of the government; moreover, in such event, the judiciary may not utilize any of the evidences collected in the proceeding. Consequently, the Supreme Court had to reconsider the case in light of the principles asserted by the Constitutional Court and, obviously, annul the conviction.