News / World
Europe claims they have evidence of secret CIA prisons
European investigators say they have proof that the CIA has run secret prisons in Poland and Romania. A Swiss senator, Dick Marty, has been investigating the CIA for the European human rights body. He claims the prisons were run to interrogate "war on terror suspects."
Marty released a report on Friday saying the CIA prisons "did exist in Europe from 2003 to 2005, in particular in Poland and Romania." Polish and Romanian governments both denied having any involvement in the secret prisons.
"Some European governments have obstructed the search for the truth and are continuing to do so by invoking the concept of ‘state secrets’… This criticism applies to Germany and Italy, in particular," he claims.
Marty quoted CIA sources saying the "black site" was in Poland where eight "high value detainees (HVD’S)" were in interrogated. This is allegedly where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who allegedly planned the attacks on 9/11, was interrogated.
Romania reportedly "was developed into a site to which more detainees were transferred only as the HDV programme expanded." The report continues to say "The secret detention facilities in Europe were run directly and exclusively by the CIA. To our knowledge, the local staff had no meaningful contact with the prisoners and performed purely logistical duties." The report adds "the highest state authorities were aware of the CIA’s illegal activities on their territories."
In September President Bush admitted that CIA prisons overseas had held terror suspects, but he did not reveal the locations of the prisons.
Marty’s report claims there is evidence to prove CIA operations included holding detainees in secret and using "enhanced interrogation techniques" and "degrading treatment." He also reports that terror suspects were "kidnapped then tortured and detained illegally in rouge states like Syria, where there is no civilian law or law governing the rules of war."
He also claims the CIA secretly flew over Europe and Europe knew about the flights, the abduction of terror suspects by the CIA and the prisons.
Marty’s report came as the CIA’s first criminal trial. The trial opened in Italy where 25 CIA agents and one U.S. Air Force colonel are being tried for the kidnapping and torturing of an Egyptian terror suspect.
