Nicolò Pollari (born 3 March 1943 in

Caltanissetta Caltanissetta (; scn, Nissa or ) is a ''comune'' in the central interior of Sicily, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Caltanissetta. Its inhabitants are called ''Nisseni''. In 2017, the city had a population of 62,797. It is the 14th l ...

) is a general of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Guardia di Finanza The ''Guardia di Finanza'' (G. di F. or GdF) () (English: literal: ''Guard of Finance'', paraphrased: ''Financial Police'' or ''Financial Guard'') is an Italian law enforcement agency under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance. ...

, who was the former head of Italy's national military intelligence agency, or

SISMI Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (abbreviated SISMI, ''Military Intelligence and Security Service'') was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977–2007. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services app ...

, from 1 October 2001 until his resignation on 20 November 2006. He assisted in the CIA kidnapping of a cleric to be sent to Egypt for torture - for which he was convicted in 2013 to a 10-year jail sentence, that was overturned in 2014 upon appeal to the Italian

Supreme Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

. He is claimed to have earlier supported the US efforts to justify the

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...

by providing false documents.

Niger uranium forgeries

In a 2005 article in the newspaper ''

La Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...

'' he was identified by investigative reporters Giuseppe D'Avanzo and Carlo Bonini, as having brought the discredited documents at the center of the

Yellowcake forgery The Niger uranium forgeries were forged documents initially released in 2001 by SISMI (the former military intelligence agency of Italy), which seem to depict an attempt made by Saddam Hussein in Iraq to purchase yellowcake uranium powder from N ...

scandal directly to Vice-President

Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...

Office of Special Plans An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duti ...

, bypassing the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

, who knew the documents were forgeries.

Abu Omar case

On 5 December 2006, his

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

was sought for his role in the abduction of Egyptian cleric

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr ( ar, حسن مصطفى أسامة نصر ''Ḥassan Muṣṭafā Usāmah Naṣr'') (born 18 March 1963), also known as Abu Omar, is an Egyptian cleric. In 2003, he was living in Milan, Italy, from where he was kidnapped ...

from the streets of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

on 17 February 2003.

Marco Mancini Marco Mancini was the second-highest-ranking officer of SISMI, the military intelligence agency of Italy Wilkinson, T. (2006)."Italian Probe Broadens Beyond Abduction: Prosecutors in the case of a Muslim cleric seek evidence of illegal spying by in ...

, number two of the SISMI, as well as the number three, General Gustavo Pignero, were also indicted, and arrested, in July 2006, for their role in the Abu Omar case, as well as 26 American citizens. On 12 February 2013 Pollari was sentenced to ten years in prison by the Appeals Court of

. The sentence was overturned on 24 February 2014.

Mitrokhin Commission

According to the Italian public prosecutor Pietro Salvitti, cited by ''

'', Nicolò Pollari, as well as Marco Mancini, were some of the informers, alongside Mario Scaramella, of senator

Paolo Guzzanti Paolo Guzzanti (born 1 August 1940) is an Italian journalist and politician. He was previously a member of the Italian Socialist Party. Biography Born in Rome, he is the nephew of Elio Guzzanti and father to actors Corrado, Sabina and Caterina. ...

, in charge of the controversial

Mitrokhin Commission The Mitrokhin Commission was an Italian parliamentary commission set up in 2002 to investigate alleged KGB ties of some Italian politicians. Set up by the Italian Parliament, then led by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition, the '' Casa dell ...

. Scaramella was arrested at the end of December 2006 on charges of defamation and arms-trade. The Mitrokhin Commission falsely claimed that former Italian prime minister,

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...

, had been the "KGB's man in Italy" during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. Beside targeting Romano Prodi and his staff, this "network", according to Pietro Salvitti's words, also aimed at defaming General Giuseppe Cucchi (current director of the CESIS), Milan's judges Armando Spataro, in charge of the Abu Omar case, and Guido Salvini, as well as ''La Repubblica'' reporters Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe D'Avanzo.

References

External links

*
Nicolò Pollari
at History Commons {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollari, Nicolo 1943 births Living people People from Caltanissetta Italian generals SISMI