EU Calls for Investigation into CIA Prisons in Europe 
The CIA has repeatedly been accused of using European airports as hubs for transporting terror suspects
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The CIA has repeatedly been accused of using European airports as hubs for transporting terror suspects
The European Commission has called on EU member states accused of running secret prisons for the CIA to conduct impartial investigations "as quickly as possible." This follows the release of a Council of Europe report.
European Commission spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing stressed the need "for the member states concerned to conduct impartial investigations to establish the truth."
"Indeed, such investigations should be fully carried out as quickly as possible in order to establish responsibility and for the victims to obtain compensation," he told reporters in Brussels.
Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty
In a report Friday, the Council of Europe said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005 to interrogate terror suspects under a program authorized by the two countries' presidents.
Both Poland and Romania have denied the allegations.
Denials from Poland and Romania
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty According to the report, Poland's former President Aleksander Kwasniewski had known about the covert CIA activities on Polish soil.
"Poland maintains its position on the issue of the alleged CIA prisons on the territory of our country -- there were no secret bases in Poland," Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Robert Szaniawski was quoted by Polish PAP news agency Friday.
Szaniawski added that Polish officials were waiting for the Council of Europe to produce more details and evidence to support its claims.
"Up to now the evidence presented on this issue has been worth very little," he said.
Romania has also rejected claims that it held secret prisons.
"It is regrettable that the rapporteur thinks Romania 'welcomed secret prisons," the Romanian foreign ministry said in a statement.
"This report, like the previous one, provides no evidence to confirm these allegations, except for unidentified 'sources,' whose credibility cannot be assessed," the statement continued.
"Global spider's web"
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Possibly a covert detention center -- Mihail Kogalniceanu base in Romania
Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty had said in his report that the prisons, in northeast Poland and southeast Romania, were part of a "global spider's web" of detentions and illegal transfers spun out around the world by the United States and its allies after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Marty also suggested that NATO and the United States reached a secret deal in 2001 allowing the Central Intelligence Agency to run the covert prisons.
Liberal Democrat members of a European parliamentary committee that studied the issue welcomed Marty's report.
Committee vice-president Sarah Ludford, a British MEP, said: "We must expose the secret agreements between US intelligence services and some European governments."
Bildunterschrift: Romanian leaders deny that Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase hosted a secret prison
"These illegal, undemocratic and unacceptable actions must be accounted for and punished," she said.
Roscam Abbing said that the European Commission -- the executive arm of the European Union -- would study their report carefully before deciding whether to take any action against the member states involved.
"This is a very serious matter with very, very serious and strong allegations," he said. "We intend to discuss the matter further."
In 2005 EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said that the states concerned could face penalties -- including suspension of EU voting rights -- if found to have taken part in the secret CIA prison system.
Poland joined the European Union in 2004 and Romania this year.
Both also belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
DW staff / DPA / AFP (als)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2580971,00.html
