Poland knew of CIA prisons but no solid evidence, says Euro report

A European Parliament report on the alleged illegal transfer and torture of international terror suspects by the CIA states claims 11 EU nations, including Poland, knew of the activity.
The draft of the report presented by Claudio Fava and the investigative committee speaks of 20 people suspected of terrorist actions that had been abducted in EU countries and then passed on to US intelligence services.

The Italian MEP considers the number to be the tip of the iceberg.

'We know the story of 20 victims with a Western European passport in their pocket. We are afraid there are several other victims. We are asking the Parliament to put us inside the freedoms committee to take ahead our work.'

The report also points to Poland, together with 9 other countries, as one of the destinations where these CIA captives could have been taken. It mentions the provincial Szymany airport in the north-east where records revealed 7 landings of CIA chartered planes in 2003. The airfield is located near a training center of Polish intelligence, which the report names as a possible location of a secret detention place for the international terrorist suspects.

Former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski denies the existence of CIA prisons in Poland.

' There were no secret prisons. Of course, there was cooperation within the framework of the anti-terrorist coalition. We couldn't leave our American allies and not help them in such cases as allowing landing for refueling or technical assistance.'

Janusz Onyszkiewicz, deputy chairman of the European Parliament, says the committee led by Claudio Fava has not contributed any fresh evidence to substantiate earlier repeated allegations on the existence of secret CIA prisons in Poland.

'I don't think this committee found something entirely new. But what is really deplorable is the lack of spirit of cooperation between Polish authorities and this committee. It resulted in a certain feeling that Poland has something to hide, which I think is not the case. Unfortunately, this is the impression Polish authorities have created.'

When the team of Euro deputies arrived on a fact finding mission in Poland some weeks ago, they limited their activity to Warsaw. At a press conference held at the end of their stay, a reservation was made of lack of cooperation on the part of Polish authorities.

Beata Plomecka, Polish Radio correspondent in Brussels, says the reactions of Polish MEPs have had various shades, but the absence of concrete proof and abundance of unclear statements in the report has been pointed out by all but one.

'The Poles are divided. But according to most of them this report lacks hard evidence. They consider unacceptable such words as "could have been" or "may have happened". People say that this is unacceptable after one year of investigation. At least four (Polish) MEPS will try to change this report and cross out especially one sentence which says there might have been some secret facilities in Poland. There is only one Polish MEP who agrees with this report. It's Jozef Pinior from the Socialist group. He thinks it is solid and honest work. And if there is such conditional wording, it's because Polish authorities didn't want to cooperate with the committee.'

MEPs can now forward their suggestions and propose amendments to the draft report of the investigation commission. The European Parliament will vote on the final version of the document early next year.
Source:polskieradio.p