Special Prosecutor Assails Thornburgh
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WASHINGTON — The prosecutor in the Iran-Contra investigation Monday accused Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh of deliberately sidetracking “with no legitimate reason” the criminal case against Joseph F. Fernandez, former CIA station chief in Costa Rica.
There is “every reason to proceed promptly” in the criminal prosecution of Fernandez, independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh said in a court brief.
Fernandez assisted the secret Contra supply network of then-National Security Council staff member Oliver L. North during a congressional ban on U.S. military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels.
On Friday, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., granted the Justice Department’s request for a month’s time to consider whether it wants to appeal the court’s ruling that Thornburgh may not intervene on secrecy grounds in the Fernandez prosecution.
Walsh’s brief asked the court to reconsider its order.
Thornburgh has “repeatedly thwarted” the prosecution “by last-minute, unannounced procedural maneuvers designed only to tie this case in a knot of endless litigation,” Walsh said.
He said the information Thornburgh seeks to protect “is widely known to the public,” such as the existence of CIA stations in Latin America.
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