/europe
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish court on Tuesday dropped charges against three U.S. soldiers in connection with the death of a Spanish TV cameraman in Iraq in 2003.
Jose Couso, a Spanish television cameraman was killed five years ago by a shell that smashed into a hotel from a US tank in Baghdad.
In a ruling Tuesday, the court says "the evidence available is not sufficient to continue with the process."
The soldiers named as Philip de Camp, Phillip Wolford, and Thomas Gibson, belonged to the U.S. 3rd Infantry, based in Fort Stewart, Georgia.
A Ukrainian cameraman, Taras Portsyuk, for Reuters, also died in the attack on the Palestine Hotel, where other journalists were staying.
The ruling Tuesday is the latest step in a long-running legal battle to indict the soldiers.
According to a copy of the court order viewed by CNN, the judges in the case wrote that there was a difference between shots fired during peacetime by civilians versus shots fired by soldiers during war.
"There is not a description of the facts here that permits them to be listed in the alleged crime," the majority court opinion said on Tuesday.
Couso's family and some journalists have blamed the U.S. military, saying they should have known the Palestine Hotel, a tall structure in Baghdad, was a base for journalists, not combatants.
Then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said American troops fired only after receiving hostile fire from the hotel and the matter received the highest attention, from President Bush and then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
Couso's lawyer has previously said it would be difficult to put the soldiers on trial in Spain. The Pentagon, faced with similar charges from other national courts in the past, has not turned over U.S. soldiers.
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
From the Blogs: 
Sit tight, we're getting to the good stuff
