Relatives of Spanish cameraman killed in Baghdad use WikiLeaks (as evidence) to press for justice

[kpete]

Source: Christian Science Monitor

Relatives of Spanish cameraman killed in Baghdad use WikiLeaks to press for justice

After years of delays, the family of a Spanish journalist killed in a 2003 US attack on a Baghdad hotel turns to WikiLeaks documents that suggest the US and Spain colluded to prevent legal action.

By Andrés Cala, Correspondent / December 13, 2010
Madrid

In what could be the first legal case to use filtered WikiLeaks documents as evidence, the family of a Spanish cameraman killed in 2003 by a US tank shell during the battle for Baghdad filed a complaint Monday. They seek to open an investigation into whether high-ranking officials here colluded with the US Embassy to stop charges being filed against three American soldiers, including a colonel.

José Couso of Telecinco, the Spanish cameraman, and Taras Protsyuk, a Ukranian cameraman working for Reuters, died April 8, 2003, when a shell fired by an M1 Abraham tank hit the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel, which scores of foreign journalist were using as a base and Pentagon-approved safe haven. Two other media locations were hit that day, also killing Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Ayyoub. Four others were injured, leading to broad condemnation and demands to protect reporters.

................

According to the WikiLeaks documents posted by El País newspaper, former US ambassador in Madrid Eduardo Aguirre wrote in May 2007 that “while we are careful to show our respect for the tragic death of Couso and for the independence of the Spanish judicial system, behind the scenes we have fought tooth and nail to make the charges disappear.”

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/1213/Relatives-of-Spanish-cameraman-killed-in-Baghdad-use-WikiLeaks-to-press-for-justice

[EFerrari]

1. K&R

[Amonester]

2. Methinks the torturers' protectors in the OA won't allow this.

True Justice must be just another purist ideal for them all now. :sarcasm:

:cry:

[Downwinder]

3. Better bring bull fighting back or they are going to work over the US bull.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. WIKILEAKS - Oxygen for Democracy

and its so good!

[Kaleko]

5. The lifting of the veil continues. Fantastic.

This admission by the former US ambassador explodes the myth of US respect for any other countries' laws.

... “while we are careful to show our respect for the tragic death of Couso and for the independence of the Spanish judicial system, behind the scenes we have fought tooth and nail to make the charges disappear.”

What next?