Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Spanish Prosecutor Appeals Arrests of 3 US Soldiers Over Iraqi Hotel Shelling

By VOA News
20 October 2005

Spain's public prosecutor has requested that international arrest warrants not be issued for three U.S. soldiers involved in the 2003 shelling of a hotel in Iraq, in which a Spanish journalist was killed.

Court officials say prosecutor Pedro Rubira decided that Spain lacks jurisdiction to investigate the death of Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television station, Telecinco.  The appeal comes one day after a Spanish judge called for the soldiers' arrests. 

The shelling at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel in April 2003 also killed a Ukrainian Reuters news agency cameraman.  Many foreign journalists who covered the U.S.-led war in Iraq were staying at the hotel.

Following the incident, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the American troops acted in self-defense after drawing hostile fire from the hotel.

Some information for this rerport provided by AP and AFP.