Madrid - Spain's National Court on Tuesday reactivated a case against three US soldiers for the death of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso, who was killed when a US tank fired at a Baghdad hotel where journalists were staying in April 2003 during the Iraq war.

Judge Santiago Pedraz called former Spanish defence minister Federico Trillo and former foreign minister Ana Palacio to testify and to give new information about the case after the court lifted the indictment of the US soldiers a week earlier.

Those indicted were Sergeant Thomas Gibson, who fired on the hotel, Lieutenant Colonel Philip de Camp, who gave the order to fire, and Captain Philip Wolford, the commander of the unit.

The soldiers, who were not extradited by the United States, faced up to 15 years for a premeditated killing and for a crime against the international community.

The court had agreed with the stance of prosecutors who argued that Couso was killed within the framework of an act of war. It had been due to decide whether to shelve the case definitively or whether the pursue the investigation.

In addition to Trillo and Palacio, who held their portfolios when Couso was killed, judge Pedraz wants to hear weapons experts and media representatives and send a judicial commission to Iraq to reconstruct the events that led to Couso's death.

He also wants to question a former US sergeant who said on television that the Hotel Palestine, where Couso was killed, was a military objective.

Couso, who worked for the television station Telecinco, and a Ukrainian cameraman for the Reuters news agency were killed in the attack. The United States has maintained that the soldiers acted appropriately in circumstances of war. (dpa)