Devil's dozen

Munich prosecutors want to arrest CIA agents

Prosecutors in Munich yesterday issued arrest warrants for 13 alleged CIA employees. They are accused of kidnapping a German of Lebanese origin, Khalid al-Misri, in January 2004 on suspicion of terrorist activities and sending him to a secret prisoner of war prison in Afghanistan, where he was subjected to violence and abuse. Four months later he was released. Officially, American authorities did not respond to requests from the German side. On the sidelines, however, they admitted that the arrest of a German citizen was “wrong.”

According to the prosecutor's office, 13 wanted US intelligence officers sent al-Misri on a Boeing 737 from Macedonia to Afghanistan on January 23, 2004, landing in Mallorca. Journalists from the TsDF television channel were on the trail of this damn dozen overseas fighters of the invisible front. They managed to find out that we were talking about 11 men and two women. When the Spanish police joined the investigation, they managed to find out their passport details - they were staying on the island at the Marriott Son Anthem hotel. True, as it turned out, these names were agent nicknames. But television reporters still managed to “figure out” their real names and even visit some of them in their homes in North Carolina.

Nevertheless, the arrest warrants for CIA agents are based on conspiracy aliases. A representative of the prosecutor's office noted yesterday in Munich that the investigation will now concentrate on finding out their real names. Issuing arrest warrants is only an “intermediate goal.” From the very beginning, it was clear to German detectives and lawyers that the Americans would not hand over their citizens, especially intelligence officers. After all, European arrest warrants are not recognized in the United States. The only chance to arrest the suspects and bring them to justice will only appear if they find themselves back in Europe.

As the victim's lawyer, Manfred Gnidzic, put it, this is more of an “explanatory act.” The lawyer commented on this term in relation to al-Misri’s misadventures as follows: “With their step, the prosecutor’s office explained that the CIA abroad does not have the right to do whatever it pleases.” The claim, according to the lawyer, is aimed at the very heart of American tactics to suppress terrorism.

This is not the first time that European authorities have openly resisted American intelligence agencies. Earlier, Italian investigative authorities received arrest warrants for 26 CIA employees and five of their Italian colleagues in connection with the kidnapping of Egyptian Abu Omar. He lived in Italy as a political refugee and headed an Islamic center in Milan. In 2003, he was kidnapped by CIA agents and secretly taken to Egypt, where Omar was subjected to torture, humiliation and violence.

Against the background of a new round of tension between the relevant authorities in Germany and the United States, the foreign policy department in Berlin prefers not to comment on what is happening. Instead, the German Foreign Ministry only testified that the investigative actions of the prosecutor's office are carried out regardless of politics.

Yuri Shpakov, Berlin