An Italian judge ruled yesterday that Premier Silvio Berlusconi will be called to testify in the trial of 26 Americans and several Italians charged with kidnapping a terror suspect during a CIA operation.

Judge Oscar Magi approved the defense request as the case resumed. Magi also ruled that former Premier Romano Prodi and senior officials from both Berlusconi's and Prodi's past governments will be called to testify.

Berlusconi, who has just been elected to a new term, is considered a key witness because he was premier when Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr disappeared in February 2003.