“War On Terror” In Poland, Romania and Lithuania Accountability Must Be Established

Mr Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for human rights: “The full truth must now be established and guarantees given that such forms of co-operation will never be repeated. Effective investigations are imperative and long overdue.”

Highly secure detention facilities, so-called “Black Sites”, were established since 2001 in at least seven different overseas locations, to which the CIA delivered its detainees for “enhanced interrogation”. Detention in CIA custody meant being kept indefinitely in secret, incommunicado, solitary confinement. The US Government maintains up to now that “details concerning locations”, and the “assistance of foreign liaison services in any aspect of the program” should be kept secret.

A CIA Black Site was opened in Poland on 5 December 2002. The ongoing investigation of the Polish Prosecutor has a crucial role to play in achieving accountability; its results should be tendered for public and judicial scrutiny with the minimum of further delay.
Black Site was opened in Romenia near Bucharest on 23 September 2003, immediately after the closure of the Polish facility.
The Romanian authorities refused to uncover the whole truth of what happened on Romanian territory. The only official response has been denial, supported by a Senate Committee report refuting all allegations.
The Lithuanian authorities have demonstrated some intent to reveal the truth, notably through a parliamentary inquiry and a one-year pre-trial investigation by the Prosecutor General’s Office. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) was able to inspect two detention sites identified by the parliamentary committee as having been equipped to house CIA detainees. However, the essential questions as to the timing and scope of the CIA’s use of these facilities remain unanswered.