MADRID, May 24 (Reuters) - A judge decided on Thursday to press on with charges against three U.S. soldiers for killing a Spanish television cameraman during the invasion of Iraq, denying a state appeal.

Judge Santiago Pedraz rejected arguments by the state prosecution service that the soldiers acted in self defence in a war zone when they shelled Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, killing Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso, according to a ruling.

Couso and Reuters Television cameraman Taras Protysuk were killed on April 8, 2003, when a U.S. tank opened fire on the hotel, the headquarters for foreign media in the Iraqi capital during the U.S.-led invasion.

A U.S. military investigation found the tank crew acted within their rules of engagement and the United States has said it will not extradite the three, who argue they fired because they thought they saw a spotter guiding in hostile fire.

"Even if there was a spotter, the reaction was still disproportionate, because it was not an attack on U.S. forces, and because they knew about the hotel and who was inside it -- journalists, persons protected by the fourth Geneva Convention," Pedraz said in his ruling.

Relations between Washington and Madrid have been strained since Spain's Socialist government withdrew troops from Iraq after winning power in 2004.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due in Madrid on June 1 -- the first senior member of President Bush's cabinet to visit since 2004.

AlertNet news is provided by