The family of a Spanish cameraman who was killed when a US tank opened fire on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad is taking legal action against the soldiers responsible.
Jose Couso, who worked for Spanish television station Telecinco, was killed on April 8 when a US tank round hit the hotel - the main base for foreign journalists in the Iraqi capital throughout the conflict.
Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk was also killed in the attack but the news organisation has said it will wait until it has received full details of the incident from the US military before deciding on its next course of action.
Couso's family have filed a lawsuit at Spain's high court against Captain Philip Wolford, Lieutenant Colonel Philip de Camp and Sergeant Gibson, all of the US 3rd infantry, according to the family's lawyer, Pilar Hermoso.
"Everybody knows they [the US military] are responsible for the attack on the Palestine Hotel," said Ms Hermoso at a news conference yesterday.
In a document submitted to the Spanish court, Couso's family claimed: "The facts related constitute from the perspective of international law 'war crimes'." They also called for the three US soldiers to be provisionally jailed....
Details of the lawsuit emerged on the same day as a report by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists concluded that the attack was not deliberate but could have been avoided....
<http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,965490,00.html> *****
***** Journalists call deaths of 2 in Iraq avoidable Christopher Marquis NYT Wednesday, May 28, 2003
WASHINGTON There is no evidence that U.S. forces were fired on from the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad before they shelled the building, killing two of nearly 100 journalists staying there, a journalist advocacy group has charged.
The group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, which chronicles abuses against news personnel worldwide, said that its investigation of the April 8 incident concluded that the attack on the journalists, while not intentional, could have been avoided....
<http://www.iht.com/articles/97769.htm> *****