Italy continues CIA trial despite secrecy ruling

Berlusconi, now prime minister again, has denied any Italian role in Abu Omar' disappearance and has argued the case risked ostracizing the country from the global intelligence community if secrets about Italian cooperation with the CIA were exposed in open court.

Titta Madia, the lawyer defending the former head of the Italian secret service, General Nicolo Pollari, told reporters that because of the state secrecy ruling, the Milan trial was now "at a dead end. It is only going ahead to save face."

Spataro rejected her comments but conceded that the judge's acceptance of the constitutional court's dismissal of evidence due to state secrecy rules "will obviously involve a big effort from the prosecution in gathering evidence in future."

Arianna Barbazza, the court-appointed Italian lawyer for suspects including the former CIA station chief in Milan, was not immediately available for comment, her office said.