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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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October 21st,
2009 - Lithuanian Lawmakers Demand CIA Prison Probe |
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Lithuanian Lawmakers
Demand CIA Prison Probe From the Associated Press October 21, 2009 Vilnius, Lithuania -
Lithuanian lawmakers on Wednesday demanded an investigation into allegations
that the CIA established a prison for al-Qaida suspects in the Baltic
country. The Parliament's National
Security and Defense Committee said it wants the full 141-member assembly to
approve the probe next week. Lithuanian leaders have
denied that the former Soviet republic - a close U.S. ally in the war on
terror - hosted clandestine detention centers. Poland and Romania have denied
similar allegations. The call for an
investigation came a day after President Dalia Grybauskaite said she had
"indirect suspicions" about a secret CIA prison in Lithuania. Defense committee chairman
Arvydas Anusauskas said the investigation was necessary and that the
committee wanted to question "certain persons" about the existence
of a possible CIA prison. He did not specify who he had in mind. An ABC News report in August
said the CIA had a secret prison in Vilnius from September 2004 through
November 2005, and used it to detain and interrogate al-Qaida prisoners
captured around the world after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Former President Valdas
Adamkus and former Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas, who were both in
office at the time the center was supposedly built, rejected the report. But after a meeting Tuesday
with a top European human rights official, President Grybauskaite said the
allegations of a CIA prison should be taken seriously because they put
Lithuania's reputation at stake. "I have indirect
suspicions - and not only me, but the entire international community,"
she said. "If there was such a thing, Lithuania should come clean, take
responsibility, and promise that it will never happen again." She said both Lithuania and
the United States "must provide answers to these questions." In a 2007 probe conducted on
behalf of the Council of Europe, Swiss senator Dick Marty accused 14 European
governments of permitting the CIA to run detention centers or conduct
rendition flights through their countries between 2002 and 2005. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ingvQqn5r-QON-EWHpJw860_8vlwD9BFLSQ00 |