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The
War Profiteers - War Crimes, Kidnappings & Torture |
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CIA-Kidnappings: Document Request for
EU/US Correspondence & Reports |
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Introduction This page lists the correspondence between
representatives of the European Union and the site owner with regards to his
request for a listing of all EU reports and correspondence between the
Council of the European Union and U.S. authorities regarding the “CIA
rendition program”. |
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Events
in Reversed Chronological Order November 19th, 2008 - Letter from the Public Information Center of
the EU Council November 19th, 2008 - 3rd Reply from the EU Council November 5th, 2008 - Acknowledgement of Receipt by European
Ombudsman November 3rd, 2008 - Complaint to European Ombudsman sent by Applicant September 16th, 2008 - Request for clarification sent by applicant August 28th, 2008 - 2nd Reply from the EU Council August 6th, 2008 - 1st Reply from the EU Council July 22nd, 2008 - 2nd Application (reports) July 15th, 2008 - 1st Application (correspondence) |
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Correspondence/History November 19th, 2008 - Letter from the Public
Information Center of the EU Council Dear Mr. Ottmann, Thank you very much for your email of 16 September 2008
and for clarifying your different requests for information. This was useful
for us in reviewing your request. Below, you will find answers to your public
information queries, in application of the code of good administrative
behaviour for the General Secretariat of the Council. Your requests for
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 will be dealt with separately. In the context of the political dialogue between the
EU and the US, the EU has raised concerns regarding the respect of
international law, including human rights law and international humanitarian
law. On the question of alleged rendition flights it is
important to note that the supervision of intelligence and security service
activity on the territory of Member States is a matter of Member State
competence. As regards the communication between the EU Council
and the US Government on the subject of "rendition", we would like
to draw your attention to the letter of 29 November 2005 by UK Foreign
Secretary, Jack Straw, to US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to which
Mrs. Rice responded in a public declaration at Andrews Air force Base on 5
December 2005 before departing for Europe. There have indeed been European requests for
information, to which Secretary Rice replied in her public statement.
"We have received inquiries from the European Union, the Council of
Europe, and from several individual countries about media reports concerning
U.S. conduct in the war on terror. I am going to respond now those inquiries,
as I depart today for Europe. And this will also essentially form the text of
the letter that I will send to Secretary Straw, who wrote on behalf of the
European Union as the European Union President …”. Furthermore, Legal Advisers from the Ministries of
Foreign Affairs of the EU Member States, with the assistance of the EU
Council Secretariat and the European Commission, and the Legal Adviser of the
US State Department have been engaging in an in-depth dialogue on
international law and various aspects of the counter-terrorism effort. The
aim of the dialogue is to foster mutual understanding and to discuss improved
ways of safeguarding human rights in the effort to counter terrorism. The
dialogue encompasses complex legal issues under international law such as the
rights of detainees apprehended in the course or the fight against terrorism. The dialogue has highlighted the legal problems
arising from the fight against terrorism. Although the dialogue has shown
that there are differences of opinion between the US and the EU, it is
allowing both parties to learn about the developments and the legal
obligations within the EU and the US on these matters. The dialogue is
contributing to a better understanding of how the fight against terrorisin
should be carried out with respect for the rule of law and international law,
including international human rights law. The EU’s position is expressed inter alia in EU's
Guidelines on Torture, the EU's IHL guidelines and the Council Conclusions of
December 2006: "The Council reiterates that human rights, refugee law
and international humanitarian law have to be respected and maintained when
combating terrorism. The Council will continue to follow closely developments
with regard to human rights in combating terrorism and take adequate measures
for their protection. The EU remains firmly committed to the absolute
prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.
It guides our own actions and we raise our concerns with third countries. The
existence of secret detention facilities where detained persons are kept in a
legal vacuum is not in conformity with international humanitarian and human
rights law." There has not been any written communication between
the EU and the US about "rendition" specifically. However, EU views
on international law principles applicable to the fight against terrorism
have been shared with the US, to which the US has responded. US State
Department Legal Adviser Bellinger has widely spoken and published on US
positions regarding the interpretation of international law in the fight
against terrorism. Regarding your second request about Council minutes
and records about the "rendition programme": There have not been
specific meetings devoted to the topic, but it was raised in some sessions of
the informal EU-US dialogue on international law. In 2006, some meetings took place in troika format.
A report has been drawn up on one of these meetings. We hope that this provides useful elements regarding
your request. Yours sincerely, Public information service November 19th, 2008 - 3rd Reply from the EU Council Dear Mr. Ottmann, Thank you for your e-mail of 16 September 2008 in
response to our letter of 28 August 2008 in which you have clarified the
scope of your requests. Due to a clerical error, for which the General
Secretary of the Council sincerely apologize, your request of 22 July was
erroneously considered to be identical to the request introduced on 15 July.
The reply to your request of 22 July is set out below. As regards your first request, dated 15 July 2008,
the General Secretariat has - as a result of the extensive research carried
out during the examination of your second request - identified one document,
which, in view of its content, is covered by your first request. The document
concerned is a letter of 29 November 2005, addressed by UK Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Following its examination of the document on the basis
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council
regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents (Official Journal L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43) and the specific
provisions concerning public access to Council documents set out in Annex II
to the Council's Rules of Procedure (Council Decision No 2006/683/EC,
Euratom, Official Journal L 285, 16.10.2006, p. 47), the General Secretariat
has come to the conclusion that you may have access to this letter. The second request concerns: - a listing of all written/electronic reports,
memoranda, protocols, minutes and notes by the EU Council, which have been
written between September 11th, 2001 and July 22nd, 2008 with regard to all
aspects of the so-called 'extraordinary U.S. rendition program', i.e. a) the illegal kidnapping of individuals by federal
agencies of the U.S. government on the territory of the European Union, b) the illegal detention by or on behalf of federal agencies
of the U.S. government on the territory of the European Union, c) the illegal transportation of so-called
'battlefield detainees'/'unlawful combatants' and 'terror suspects' by
federal agencies of the U.S. government using airspace and airports belonging
to the territory of the European Union. The General Secretariat has examined this request on
the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of
the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
Commission documents (Official Journal L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43) and the
specific provisions concerning public access to Council documents set out in
Annex II to the Council's Rules of Procedure (Council Decision No
2006/683/EC, Euratom, Official Journal L 285, 16.10.2006, p. 47), and has
come to the following conclusion: Preliminary remark: Pursuant to Council Decision 2001/264/EC of 19 March
2001 adopting the Council's security regulations (OJ L 101, 11.4.2001, p.
12), the following level of classification applies: "RESTREINT UE": this classification shall
be applied to information and material the unauthorised disclosure of which
could be disadvantageous to the interests of the European Union or of one or
more of its Member States. Altogether 24 documents have been identified as
being covered by your request. The documents concerned can be divided into
three categories: Documents to which you may have full access: 1) 16821/06 2) 11644/06 3) 10228/06 4) 10496/06 5) 11313/06 6) 11513/06 7) 12539/06 8) 13038/06 9) 13289/06 10) 13857/06 11) 13857/1/06
REV 1 12) 14000/06 13) 15377/06 14) 15860/06 15) 15859/06 16) 15908/06 17) 16204/06 18) 16376/06 19) 17087/06 20) 5448/07 21) 5670/07. Documents to which you may have partial access: 22) Document 14396/06 is a letter from Mr Carlos
Coelho, President of the TDIP Temporary Committee of the European Parliament
to Mr Erkki Tuomioja, President of the Council of the European Union You may have access to this document except for one
part, the disclosure of which would prejudice relations between the European
Union and the United States and to which the General Secretariat is unable to
grant you access pursuant to Article 4 (1)(a), third indent, of the
Regulation (protection of the public interest with regard to international
relations). 23) Document 15509/07 is a note from COJUR to the
Political and Security Committee on the EU-US dialogue on international law
and the fight against terrorism (classified as RESTREINT UE) You may have access to this document except for
those parts, the disclosure of which would hamper the on-going discussions
with the US on these issues and prejudice relations between the European
Union and the United States. Pursuant to Article 4(1)(a), third indent, of
the Regulation (protection of the public interest with regard to
international relations) the General Secretariat is unable to grant you
access to these parts of the document. However, pursuant to Article 4(6) of
the Regulation, you may have access to those parts of the document which are
not covered by this exception. You will find them in document 15509/07 EXT 1. Documents to which access must be refused: 24) Document 14483/06 is an "I" item note
from the Presidency to the Permanent Representatives Committee (Part 2)
concerning a letter of the European Parliament on transmission of information
to the Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European Countries by the
CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners = Approval of a
reply (classified as RESTREINT UE) Disclosure of the content of this document would
prejudice relations between the European Union and the United States.
Pursuant to Article 4 (1)(a), third indent, of the Regulation (protection of
the public interest with regard to international relations) the General
Secretariat is unable to grant you access to this document. Under Article 7(2) of the Regulation, you have 15
working days to submit a confirmatory application for the Council to review
its position. The General Secretariat sincerely apologizes for the
exceptionally long delay in answering to your request. It has conducted
extensive internal consultations within its relevant services in order to
identify documents which could be of interest to you and this has
unfortunately taken much longer than usual. However, the General Secretariat
can assure you that your request has been dealt with as thoroughly as
possible. Yours sincerely, For the General Secretariat Ramón Jiménez Fraile November 5th, 2008 - Acknowledgement of Receipt by European
Ombudsman Dear Sir/Dear Madam, Your complaint dated 03/11/2008 was received by the
Office of the European Ombudsman on 03/11/2008 and was assigned registration
number 2941/2008/TS. It will be dealt with by Ms Tea Sevon […] The Ombudsman can only make inquiries into
complaints that meet the criteria of admissiblity set out in the Treaty
establishing the European Community and the Statute of the European
Ombudsman. Information concerning the admissibility of your complaint will be
communicated to you as soon as possible. […] Sincerely yours, João Sant’Anna Head of the legal department November 3rd, 2008 - Complaint sent to European Ombudsman by Applicant […] Question 2 = Council of the European Union […] Question 4 = The Council has failed to respond
to my request for clarification that I have sent by e-mail on September 16th,
2008[.] […] Question 5 = The Council should reply to my
e-mail from September 16th, 2008. Specifically it should reply to 1) my question with
regards to my first request from July 15th, 2008. 2) to my second request
from July 22nd, 2008, which has not been answered at all. Question 6 = As I have mentioned above, I have sent
the Council an e-mail for clarification on September 16th, 2008.
Nevertheless, I have not received an answer. Question 7 = Yes. On August 6th, 2008 the Council
informed me that the time-limit to my original request from July 15th, 2008
has been extended for another 15 days. I then received the second reply by
the Council on August 28th, 2008. Since I have sent my reply on September
16th, 2008, I have not received an answer anymore. […] September 16th, 2008 - Request for clarification sent by applicant Dear Sirs, thank your for your letter from August 28th, 2008. 1. In your response to my two requests, you wrote: "[...] On 23 July 2008 you re-introduced this
request, changing the second date in the first paragraph of your message to
'July 22nd, 2008' [...]." Please be aware that I have sent you two different
requests for information on documents with regards to the CIA rendition
program. The first request, which you have cited correctly in your answer,
dealt with any existing written
correspondence between the EU Council and the US government on the issue of
the CIA rendition program. The second request, which I have indeed sent you on
July 22nd, 2008 via your website, dealt with any existing reports, memoranda
on the CIA rendition program by the EU Council. Here is the exact wording of my request from July
22nd, 2008: "I hereby request a listing of all
written/electronic reports, memoranda, protocols, minutes and notes by the EU
Council, which have been written between September 11th, 2001 and July 22nd,
2008 with regards to all aspects of the so-called 'extraordinary U.S.
rendition program', i. e. a) the illegal kidnapping of individuals by federal
agencies of the U.S. government on the territory of the European Union, b) the illegal detention by or on behalf of federal
agencies of the U.S. government on the territory of the European Union, c) the illegal transportation of so-called
'battlefield detainees'/'unlawful combatants' and 'terror suspects' by
federal agencies of the U.S. government using airspace and airports belonging
to the territory of the European Union. The listing should contain the date, the title, the
index number, the sender, the addressee and a short description of the
contents of each individual document." As you can see, this request is distinctive
different from the first one from July 15th, 2008. Please treat this second request from July 22nd,
2008 as a separate request for information. I understand that there has been
some misunderstanding over the content and the subject of the request, but I
hope that it is clear by now, what I am asking for. 2. With regards to my first request, you stated: "Having examined the requests, the General
Secretariat has come to the conclusion that no such documents can be
identified within the General Secretariat of the Council." This is indeed an astounding information and I ask
you to confirm my understanding of your answer: Is it therefore true that
since September 11th, 2001 there has been not a single written communication
between the EU Council and the US government on the subject of the CIA
rendition program - despite the various illegal activities in EU countries
and two reports on the subject both by the EU Parliament and the
Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe? Sincerely yours, Martin Ottmann August 28th, 2008 - 2nd Reply from the EU Council Dear Mr Ottmann, Your request of 15 July 2008 has been registered by
the "Access to Documents" unit. It concerns the following: "…. a listing
of all written/electronic correspondence between the EU Council and the
federal government of the United States of America between September 11th,
2001 and July 14th, 2008 with regards to all aspects of the so-called
“extraordinary rendition program”, i. e. a) the illegal
kidnapping of individuals by federal agencies of the U.S. government on the
territory of the European Union, b) the illegal
detention by or on behalf of federal agencies of the U.S. government on the
territory of the European Union, c) the illegal
transportation of so-called “battlefield detainees”/“unlawful combatants” and
“terror suspects” by federal agencies of the U.S. government using airspace
and airports belonging to the territory of the European Union. The listing should
contain the date, the title, the index number, the sender, the addressee and
a short description of the contents of each individual document.". On 23 July 2008 you re-introduced this request,
changing the second date in the first paragraph of your message to "July
22nd, 2008". Thank you for your interest. The General Secretariat of the Council has examined
your requests on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European
Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents (Official Journal L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43)
and the specific provisions concerning public access to Council documents set
out in Annex II to the Council's Rules of Procedure (Council Decision No
2006/683/EC, Euratom, Official Journal L 285, 16.10.2006, p. 47). On 6 and 13 August 2008, the time-limit for replying
to your applications was extended by 15 working days. Having examined the
requests, the General Secretariat has come to the conclusion that no such
documents can be identified within the General Secretariat of the Council. Yours sincerely, For the General Secretariat Ramón Jiménez Fraile August 6th, 2008 - 1st Reply from the EU Council Dear Mr Ottmann, Your request of 15 July 2008 for access to Council
documents has been registered by the "Access to Documents" unit.
Thank you for your interest. On account of the heavy workload caused by the very
large number of requests received and the scope of your request, the
time-limit for the General Secretariat to reply to your application has to be
extended by 15 working days, in accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents (Official Journal L 145,
31.5.2001, p. 43). Yours sincerely, For the General Secretariat Ramón Jiménez Fraile July 22nd, 2008 - Request to EU Council for Listing of Reports on “CIA
Rendition Program” […] I hereby request a listing of all
written/electronic reports, memoranda, protocols, minutes and notes by the EU
Council, which have been written between September 11th, 2001 and July 22nd,
2008 with regards to all aspects of the so-called “extraordinary U.S.
rendition program”, i. e. a) the illegal kidnapping of individuals by federal
agencies of the U.S. government on the territory of the European Union, b) the illegal detention by or on behalf of federal agencies
of the U.S. government on the territory of the European Union, c) the illegal transportation of so-called
“battlefield detainees”/“unlawful combatants” and “terror suspects” by
federal agencies of the U.S. government using airspace and airports belonging
to the territory of the European Union. The listing should contain the date, the title, the
index number, the sender, the addressee and a short description of the
contents of each individual document. […] July 15th, 2008 - Request to EU Council for Listing of Correspondence with US
Authorities Dear Sirs, I hereby request a listing of all written/electronic
correspondence between the EU Council and the federal government of the
United States of America between September 11th, 2001 and July 14th, 2008
with regards to all aspects of the so-called “extraordinary rendition
program”, i. e. a) the illegal kidnapping of individuals by federal
agencies of the U.S. government on the territory of the European Union, b) the illegal detention by or on behalf of federal
agencies of the U.S. government on the territory of the European Union, c) the illegal transportation of so-called
“battlefield detainees”/“unlawful combatants” and “terror suspects” by
federal agencies of the U.S. government using airspace and airports belonging
to the territory of the European Union. The listing should contain the date, the title, the
index number, the sender, the addressee and a short description of the
contents of each individual document. Sincerely yours, Martin Ottmann |
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