The alleged routes and prisons where the US conducted the "extraorindary rendition" of suspected terrorists, made before Lithuania was accused of holding a CIA "black site."
VILNIUS — Lithuanian officials are denying accusations in the American media of hosting one of eight CIA secret prisons for al-Qaida suspects, calling the information a “myth” and purposeful provocation.
Raimondas Šukys, minister of the interior from 2004 to 2006, announced today that there were no such arrangements were either undertaken or planned at the ministry or government level under his stewardship.
“An independent parliamentary investigation might give clear answers to alleged suspicions, at the same time preventing the discrediting of Lithuania’s name and spread of unnecessary rumors about our country in the world” Šukys, presently the Seimas deputy parliamentary speaker, said.
The accusations started when the US television network ABC announced on Aug. 20 that it has identified the third European country as providing the CIA with facilities for a secret prison for high-value al-Qaida suspects.
Poland and Romania were identified in 2007 in a Council of Europe report, which also said prisoners in these facilities were subjected to “interrogation techniques tantamount to torture.”
Anonymous former CIA officials told ABC News that the now-closed prison was allegedly situated outside Vilnius. Eight suspects were held for more than a year until the end of 2005, when they were moved due to growing public awareness in the world.
The CIA refused to comment on the story’s accuracy.
“The CIA does not publicly discuss where facilities associated with its past detention program may or may not have been located,” CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano told ABC, warning of the potential danger that these accusations imply. “The dangers of airing such allegations are plain. These kinds of assertions could, at least potentially, expose millions of people to direct threat. That is irresponsible.”
The former Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, former prime minister Algirdas Brazauskas, former minister of foreign affairs and other officials deny consenting to a secret CIA prison.
“I don’t know whether it is a myth or a deliberate provocation” said Adamkus.
Current Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė regretted that Lithuania is mentioned in this context and said she only has the data showing that no such prison ever existed.
Meanwhile Amnesty International USA Policy Director for Terrorism & Counter-terrorism, Tony Parker, said Lithuania must start an immediate investigation to find out what really happened. So far, only the formation of a parliamentary investigatory committee has been suggested by Šukys.
Lithuanian legal scholars claim a secret prison would constitute an infringement of the Lithuanian Constitution and obligations undertaken by Lithuania under international law.
