JURIST - Paper Chase: CIA operated secret prison in Poland: report

[JURIST] The CIA [official website] operated a secret interrogation and short-term detention facility for suspected terrorists from 2002 to 2004 in a Polish intelligence training school with the explicit approval of British and US authorities, according to a Raw Story investigative report. British and Polish intelligence officials familiar with the story placed the facility in a Soviet-era military compound [Wikipedia backgrounder] near the Polish town of Stare Kiejkuty [Wikipedia backgrounder]. CIA rendition flights [JURIST news archive], often crossing the airspace of various European countries, landed at a nearby airport. Raw Story quoted an intelligence memo from British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Poland's then-Prime Minister Leszek Miller [Wikipedia profile], asking Miller to keep the facility's existance secret from his own government. CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano would not confirm or deny any allegations about the Polish facility, but said the rendition program was legal and conducted “with great care.” Raw Story has more.

In February of this year, the European Parliament condemned member states [JURIST report] - including Poland - for cooperating with the CIA's rendition program. In December 2005 Human Rights Watch claimed that Poland was the location of the main secret CIA prison facility in Europe; then-Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz ordered an investigation into the report which was later dropped [JURIST reports]. European Parliament lawmakers later accused Poland of obstructing their own investigation [JURIST report]. The Chicago Tribune has additional coverage.

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