EU Governments Colluded with US on Rendition – Council of Europe

European Governments Colluded with US on Rendition

PARIS (AFP) – Fourteen European countries colluded in or tolerated the secret transfer of terrorist suspects by the United States, and two of them — Poland and Romania — may have harboured CIA detention centres, according to a Council of Europe report released.

CIA flights have landed in European countries, according to a report by Dick Marty, approved by the Council of Europe

Drawn up by Swiss parliamentarian Dick Marty, the report identified a “spider’s web” of landing points around the world used by the US authorities for the practice of “extraordinary rendition” — the undercover transfer of security suspects to third countries or US-run detention centres.

“The United States … actually created this reprehensible network. But we also believe to have established that it is only through the intentional or grossly negligent collusion of the European partners that this ‘web’ was able to spread also over Europe.”

It listed Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Britain, Italy, Macedonia, Germany and Turkey as countries “responsible, at varying degrees … for violations of the rights of specific persons.”

Seven other countries “could be held responsible for collusion — active or passive”: Poland, Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Greece.

Citing media reports, investigations by human rights groups, air traffic control records and contacts within US and other intelligence services, Marty documented 14 individuals subjected to “extraordinary rendition” with alleged European collusion.

The strongest claims were made against Poland and Romania where the report said there is “now a preponderance of indications” that secret detention centres were operated near aircraft landing points. Both countries have denied the allegation.

The report drew strong denials from Bucharest, which rejected its findings as “pure speculation”, and Warsaw, where Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz dismissed it as “libel”.

The report urged that “member states concerned finally comply with their positive obligation under the European Convention on Human Rights to investigate.”

The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, which is a separate body from the European Union, was set up after World War II to promote democracy and human rights across the continent. It has 46 member states.

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