JURIST - Paper Chase: EU investigator says CIA kidnapped terror suspects, conducted over 1000 secret flights

[JURIST] The US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] has used extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] to kidnap terror suspects in Europe and transfer them to countries known to use torture and has operated over 1,000 secret flights in European territory, according to an interim report drafted by Italian MEP Giovanni Claudio Fava [official website] and released Wednesday. Fava, rapporteur for a special committee of the European Parliament [official websites] investigating allegations of illegal CIA activity in Europe, said that "The CIA has, on several occasions, clearly been responsible for kidnapping and illegally detaining alleged terrorists on the territory of [EU] member states, as well as for extraordinary renditions." Fava's report, however, includes no "smoking gun" evidence, but is based on months of testimony from EU officials [JURIST report], rights experts and alleged kidnap victims.

The Council of Europe [official website] has been conducting separate inquiries into allegations that the CIA has operated secret prisons in Europe. A recent report [PDF text; COE materials] from COE Secretary General Terry Davis based on official submissions by the governments of member countries found no evidence [JURIST report] of secret US prisons in Europe. Investigators conducting a separate investigation for the COE's parliamentary assembly, however, have asserted [JURIST report] that secret US prisons exist in Europe, but thusfar have been unable to provide concrete proof. Reuters has more. The Guardian has additional coverage.

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