Spanish National Court continues to investigate the Couso case
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By h.b. - May 27, 2008 - 6:01 PM
The ex Defence and Foriegn Ministers, Ignacio Trillo and Ana Palacio have both asked to give their witness statements by writing.

The ex Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, Federico Trillo and Ana Palacio, will declare in writing to the National Court judge, Santiago Pedraz, who is continuing to investigate the death of the Telecinco cameraman, José Couso, who died under United States tank fire in the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on April 8 2003.

Trillo is now a P.P. M.P. for Alicante province and Palacio is the Vice-president of the French nuclear group, Areva. Both have said they want to declare in writing, called as witnesses on May 20th to ‘complete the information’ to be communicated to the United States authorities.

However, before send a list of questions to the two ex Ministers, the Supreme Court will be informed of the procedure. Sources close to Trillo say he is very pleased to collaborate with the judiciary in the clearing up of the facts of the case, as he has already done with Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska on the alleged irregularities in the contracting of the Yakovlev-42 military transport plane in which 62 Spanish soldiers died in May 2003.

The United States army claims that the order was given to the tank to open fire on the Palestine Hotel, where most of the foreign press was staying, was given after the presence of snipers was detected.

National Court judge Pedraz has decided to reopen the Couso Case earlier this month after the Penal Court decided to drop the charges against the three United States soldiers involved. He has also asked the Ministry of Defence to supply him with technical information about the ‘destructive potential of a projectile launched by the tank’ to establish whether it could be considered ‘proportionate to respond to an alleged sniper in the hotel’, and he has also announced his intention to travel to Iraq to visit the scene.

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