Victim's Family Files Lawsuit against US Troops

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

*****   Victim's family files lawsuit against US troops
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday May 28, 2003

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>   *****