Rome ( CNN ) -- One of the 23 Americans whom an Italian court convicted in absentia of kidnapping a terrorism suspect in 2003 has been arrested in Panama on an Italian arrest warrant , the Italian justice ministry 's press office said Thursday . The ministry identified the arrested man as Robert Seldon Lady , who Italian prosecutors said had been the CIA base chief in Milan . In a 2009 trial , an Italian court convicted Lady and 22 others of abducting Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr , or Abu Omar , from the streets of Milan in 2003 . The trial was the first to deal with a practice that human rights groups call `` extraordinary rendition . '' They say the United States has often transferred terrorism suspects to countries that practice torture . Abu Omar , who was suspected of recruiting men to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and was under heavy surveillance by Italy 's intelligence agency , was transferred to Egypt and tortured , Italian prosecutors said . Italian prosecutors said Abu Omar was nabbed by a CIA team working with Italian officials . A former senior CIA official said Lady is no longer with the CIA . In the 2009 trial , the Italian court sentenced Lady to eight years in prison , prosecutor Armando Spataro said . The other Americans were sentenced to five years . Each of the 23 Americans was ordered to pay 1 million euros ( about $ 1.3 million ) to Abu Omar , plus 500,000 euros to his wife . But at the time , it seemed unlikely that the convictions would have much effect on the Americans , as none appeared at the trial and the Italian government did not ask for their extradition . Washington has acknowledged making secret `` rendition '' transfers of terrorism suspects between countries but denies using torture or handing suspects over to countries that do . CNN 's Elise Labott contributed to this report .
Robert Seldon Lady was CIA 's Milan base chief , prosecutors say . He was convicted in absentia in 2009 of abducting terrorism suspect . Former CIA official says Lady is no longer with the agency .