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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Lithuania parliamentary committee confirms secret CIA prisons
Jaclyn Belczyk at 1:26 PM ET

[JURIST] The Lithuanian Parliament [official website, in Lithuanian] National Security Committee reported Tuesday that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] established two secret prisons [JURIST news archive] for al Qaeda suspects in the Baltic country. Lawmakers demanded the investigation [JURIST report] in October after ABC News reported in August that former CIA officials said that Lithuania provided the CIA with facilities [ABC News report] for a secret prison for high value al Qaeda suspects in order to improve relations with the US. The parliamentary committee concluded that the Lithuanian State Security Department provided the CIA with two secret facilities [AP report], but it is unclear whether either facility was used to interrogate detainees. The committee uncovered no evidence that former president Valdus Adamkus and former prime minister Algirdas Brazauskas, who were both in office during the specified time period, were told about the secret detention centers. The committee called for prosecutors to launch an immediate investigation into the State Security Department's actions.

On his third day in office last January, US President Barack Obama ordered the closure [JURIST report] of all CIA secret prisons. The European Parliament voted [JURIST report] in February 2007 to approve a report that condemned member states for cooperating with the CIA in operating secret prisons. In January 2007, the UK admitted knowledge of the CIA prison network, and then-president George W. Bush publicly acknowledged [JURIST reports] in September 2006 that these types of facilities existed. In June 2006, the Council of Europe [official website] released [JURIST report] a report [text, PDF] that 14 European countries collaborated with the CIA by taking an active or passive role in a "global spider's web" of secret prisons and rendition flights. The existence of CIA prisons in Europe was first reported in November 2005.






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