SAN JOSE, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Costa Rican Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar on Thursday requested the United States to remove his country's name from the list of nations backing the occupation coalition in Iraq.

    This petition was presented in a diplomatic note addressed to US Secretary of State Colin Powell in compliance with the resolution of Costa Rica's constitutional court, which was issued on Wednesday.

    In the diplomatic note, Tovar said Costa Rica, respectful of the rule of law and the independence of the branches of the state,abides by the decision of the high constitutional tribunal.

    "As a consequence, my government requests the government of the United States to exclude the name of the Republic of Costa Rica from the list of allies in the Coalition or Alliance," said the diplomatic note, which has been presented to the US Embassy in SanJose.

    The constitutional court, the top judicial body of Costa Rica, unanimously declared Wednesday night as unconstitutional the moral support given by Costa Rica to the United States in its invasion of Iraq, and ordered the government to remove the name of the Central American country from the list of the coalition.

    The decision of the court also stressed that the act "went against the Constitution, the Principle of Perpetual, Active and Non-Armed Neutrality (of Costa Rica), the International Law, and the United Nations System."

    Nonetheless, the foreign minister reiterated that the Costa Rican government never declared war to Iraq or supported the invasion of Iraq.

    In previous occasions, President Abel Pacheco and Foreign Minister Tovar had indicated that Costa Rica's support was not for the invasion of Iraq, but for the combat, headed by the United States, against international terrorism. Enditem