Rendition trial in Milan suspended

MILAN, Italy, March 18 (UPI) -- A trial in Italy over the alleged CIA abduction of a Muslim cleric has been suspended pending a court ruling expected to set guidelines for prosecutors.

The Constitutional Court ruled last week that prosecutors had violated state secrecy regulations, ANSA, the Italian news agency said. The court's opinion, expected in about a month, is expected to lay out the details of when regulations were broken and how the trial should proceed.

Judges in Milan hearing the CIA case adjourned the trial until April 22.

Eight Italian and 26 U.S. intelligence agents are on trial, but the U.S. agents are not in the country and the case against them is being heard in absentia.

Hassan Mustafa Omar Nasr was snatched from a street in Milan in 2003 and sent to Egypt, where he was subjected to questioning. Armando Spataro, the lead prosecutor, says that this "extraordinary rendition" violated Italian law.