Italy Reduces Sentence for Ex-C.I.A. Officer Sought in Rendition Case
Mr. Mattarella’s statement announcing the reduction of the sentence said he had taken into account
that the United States had discontinued the rendition program and that her sentence was out of balance with the consequences others in the case had faced.
Ms. de Sousa was initially sentenced to seven years for kidnapping;
that was later reduced to four years, and President Sergio Mattarella reduced it on Tuesday to three.
Dario Bolognesi said that She’ll come to Italy to defend herself as a free woman,
28, 2017
ROME — A 10-year legal battle over the "extraordinary rendition" of a terrorism suspect by American intelligence agents seemed
to draw nearer to resolution on Tuesday, when the president of Italy commuted part of a prison sentence that one former C.I.A.
Ms. de Sousa’s lawyer, Mr. Bolognesi, said her sentence "was so clearly an injustice, when three others
were pardoned, state secrecy was invoked for some defendants, and yet she was facing prison.
The president’s decree opens the way for the former officer, Sabrina de Sousa, 61, to avoid imprisonment,
by serving her remaining sentence some other way, such as through monitored release or community service.
Julia Hall said that It is very worrying, and sends a clear message
that you can engage in what amount to be crimes under international law — torture and enforced disappearance — and get away with it,
