JURIST - Paper Chase: Poland investigating claims of CIA secret prison

[JURIST] A spokesman for Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk [official profile] announced Friday that the Polish government is investigating [Gazeta Wyborcza report] claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] operated a secret prison [JURIST news archive] in Poland. The prison was reportedly part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] program, under which terrorism suspects were seized and flown to secret locations outside the US for interrogation and imprisonment. Prosecutors have reportedly obtained a memo [Deutsche Welle report] written by Polish intelligence officials in either 2005 or 2006 that confirms the prison's existence. Reuters has more.

Poland and Romania have been accused of hosting secret prisons for the extraordinary rendition program. Allegations against the two countries came in a June 2007 report [text; JURIST report] to the Council of Europe [official website] by Swiss Senator Dick Marty [personal website, in Italian; JURIST news archive]. The report concluded that numerous European governments had cooperated with the CIA program. In February 2007, the European Parliament condemned more than a dozen European states [JURIST report] for their roles in the program. Several nations have been accused of obstructing European probes into the secret prison allegations, including Poland [JURIST report], which allegedly housed the largest CIA detention facility in Europe [JURIST report]. President Bush acknowledged the existence of the secret facilities [JURIST report] in September 2006 but provided no details on their location or operation.

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