A/HRC/13/31 General allegation Yes Government response Yes Prompt intervention letter N/A Government response N/A Working Group request for a visit N/A Government response N/A General allegations Summary of the allegations 425. Information was submitted by sources concerning obstacles reportedly encountered in the implementation of the Declaration. This information was transmitted to the Government after the Working Group’s eighty-seventh session. 426. It was reported that between 2001 and 2005 the Government of Poland was involved in a practice of renditions and secret detention. Victims of rendition were generally held in prolonged detention in secret facilities, with no access to the ICRC, no notification to families and no notification of their legal status and rights. There was no oversight of the conditions of detention and the treatment of the detainees. There was also no information about the procedures in place to decide about their detention and its duration. This practice is believed to amount to enforced disappearance. 427. According to the information received, Poland allowed secret detention facilities in its territory. 428. It was also reported to the Working Group that airports in Poland were used by planes that transported victims of rendition. Those planes stopped over in those airports during the process of transferring, taking, delivering, or returning detainees from the rendition. It is believed that the use of these planes, without the control and scrutiny of the Government, was essential to facilitate and implement the rendition programme. In some cases, these planes were used to detain individuals in European territory, while in other cases victims of enforced disappearances were transported in and out of European space. The Government of Poland allegedly allowed these planes to land on its territory without adopting any measure to prevent their use for secret detention and rendition. 429. According to reports received, the Government of Poland was reluctant to thoroughly investigate allegations of enforced disappearance connected to renditions. The Government reportedly failed to undertake effective, independent and impartial investigation into the role of state officials and the use of state territory in connection with enforced disappearance. No remedies have been provided for the victims and their families, which includes, in some cases, the establishment of the fate and whereabouts of people who have disappeared. Reply from the Government 430. On 15 June 2009, the Government replied to this general allegation stating that on 11 March 2008, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw instituted proceedings on the alleged existence secret prisons in Poland as well as the illegal transport and detention of persons suspected of terrorism. On 1 April 2009, as result of the reorganization of the Public Prosecutor’s Office the investigation was referred to the Appellate Prosecutor Office in Warsaw. In the course of investigation the prosecutors gather evidence which is considered as classified or secret. In order to secure the proper course of proceedings the prosecutors who conduct the investigation are bound by the confidentiality of the case. In this connection it is impossible to present any information regarding the findings of the investigation. Once the proceedings are completed and its results and findings are made public the Government of Poland will present and submit all necessary or requested GE.09-17704 91