Mario Lozano
Mario Lozano is a soldier in the US Army, who acquired notoriety as a suspect in the killing of Nicola Calipari in an incident on Route Irish. The United States sought to protect his anonymity, but a blunder in data security by the Coalition Forces in Iraq revealed the names of all personnel involved in the shooting (the PDF report, written with Microsoft's word processor, containing all the names not even crypted accessible on demand).
Lozano was a resident of the Bronx [1] and Specialist in the First Battalion of the 69th Infantry Regiment, New York State National Guard and of the 42nd Infantry Divison, based in Manhattan, New York.
Death of Nicola Calipari
Lozano shot and killed Major General Nicola Calipari during a disputed incident at BP 541, a blocking position for a mobile roadblock located behind a ninety-degree turn on the ramp that joined Route Vernon to Route Irish (the road between the heavily fortified Green Zone and the Baghdad International Airport). Calipari was returning from a successful rescue mission to liberate Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian independent journalist, detained by Iraqi insurgents. Both Sgrena and a colleague of Calipari's were wounded in the shooting.
Lozano and members of his squad had been directed to set up the roadblock as part of extra security for ambassador John Negroponte's convoy to the airport. Despite the fact that the convoy had already passed twenty minutes earlier, a communications failure with a dispatching unit spending its first night on the job meant that Lozano's squad had been in place for more than eighty minutes, sixty-five minutes over the customary length. [2]
Judicial Investigation
Italian prosecutors are now actively seeking to interview Lozano as part of their criminal investigation into Calipari's death. [3]
On December 22, 2005 the special prosecutors of the Magistrate's service of Rome announced that they were considering charging Lozano with voluntary manslaughter. [4]
On January 18, 2006, it was reported that the prosecutors had decided to charge Lozano with murder. The prosecutors indicated that despite making over twenty formal requests to the United States, they refused to formally identify Lozano. After confirming Lozano's identity, the Magistrate service appointed an attorney to represent Lozano during the charging process. If Lozano does not accept service of process and appear at his upcoming trial, he will be tried in absentia. [5]
In June of 2006, the Italian government announced that prosecutors have formally charged Lozano with murder, and are considering an extradition request. If they do, in fact, request Lozano's extradition, it is certain that the U.S. government will not comply. At that point, the Italian authorities must decide whether or not to try him in absentia. No decision is expected for at least two months.
Putting foreigners on trial in absentia is not the common practice in Italy, but they make exceptions for cases of "political murder". Prosecutors in Italy have already announced that the case against Lozano qualifies as a "political murder" case, and is thus eligible for trial in absentia.
In the meantime, newspapers in the United States have quoted soldiers in Lozano's unit who said that he had been "devastated" when he learned that he'd killed an Italian officer and wounded a female civilian, and that he couldn't sleep for days afterward.
As of June 20th, Lozano himself has not made any public appearances or statements.
Political Implications
Calipari's death caused a major international incident, since Calipari, a highly decorated SISMI agent, had become a national hero in Italy. As a result, there was significant pressure on the government of Italy to publicly support another investigation into the shooting, this time being conducted by prosecutors.
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi indicated in Parliament on May 5, 2005 that the government remains fully committed to supporting the ongoing judicial investigation into Calipari's death. One of the most prominent leaders of the opposition in the lower house of parliament, Piero Fassino, called for the United States to facilitate cooperation with the investigation, indicating that they believe the U.S. Army should produce Lozano for questioning by the magistrates. [6]
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, head of the Italian Federation of the Greens, indicated that should the United States fail to cooperate with this investigation by allowing Lozano to be questioned, he would push for a hearing at the International Court of Justice[7].
However, the non-Italian media are reporting that it is unlikely that Italy will seek to try Lozano in absentia, should, according to American policy, the U.S. not render him to Italian custody. It is likely that this decision will not be made on purely legal grounds, because of the political interest of the Berlusconi government's desire to maintain a firm alliance with the United States. However, the investigating magistrates will probably continue their investigation, with the aim of producing a more detailed reconstruction of the events that occurred at the mobile roadblock.[8]