A/HRC/13/42*
page 54
Appellate Prosecutor Office in Warsaw. In the course of investigation, the prosecutors
gathered evidence, which is considered 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 information to any international body.
While the experts appreciate the fact that an investigation has been opened into the existence of
places of secret detention in Poland, they are concerned about the lack of transparency into the
investigation. After 18 months, still nothing is known about the exact scope of the investigation.
The experts expect that any such investigation would not be limited to the question of whether
Polish officials had created an “extraterritorial zone” in Poland, but also whether officials were
aware that “enhanced interrogation techniques” were applied there.
119. In its response to the questionnaire sent by the experts, Romania provided a copy of the
report of the Committee of Enquiry of Parliament concerning the investigation of the statements
on the existence of CIA imprisonment centres or of flights of aircraft hired by the CIA on the
territory of Romania.203
120. With regard to Europe, ABC news recently reported that Lithuanian officials had provided
the CIA with a building where as many as eight terrorist suspects were held for more than a year,
until late 2005, when they were moved because of public disclosure of the programme.204 More
details emerged in November 2009 when ABC news reported that the facility was built inside an
exclusive riding academy in Antaviliai.205 Research for the present study, including data strings
relating to Lithuania, appears to confirm that Lithuania was integrated into the secret detention
programme in 2004. Two flights from Afghanistan to Vilnius could be identified: the first, from
Bagram, on 20 September 2004, the same day that 10 detainees previously held in secret
detention, in a variety of countries, were flown to Guantanamo; the second, from Kabul, on 28
July 2005. The dummy flight plans filed for the flights into Vilnius customarily used airports of
203
Report of the inquiring committee of investigation on the statements regarding the existence
of some CIA imprisonment centers or of some flights or aircraft hired by CIA on the territory of
Romania of the Parliament of Romania. This inquiring committee has been established by
Resolution 29 of the Senate of Romania of 21 December 2005. It finalized its report on 5 March
2007 and held that the accusations addressed to Romania are groundless.
204
Matthew Cole, “Officials: Lithuania hosted secret CIA prison to get our Ear”, ABC news, 20
August 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8373807. See also Dick Marty, “Time for
Europe to come clean once and for all over secret detentions”, 21 August 2009. Available from
http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/NewsManager/EMB_NewsManagerView.asp?ID=4859&L=2.
205
Matthew Cole and Brian Ross, “CIA secret ‘torture’ prison found at fancy horseback riding
academy”. ABC news, 18 November 2009. Available from http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/ciasecret-prison-found/story?id=9115978.
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