The Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners issued the following press release yesterday.

European Parliament: Committee deplores Member States’ passivity in the face of illegal CIA operations

Over a thousand CIA-operated flights used European airspace in 2001-05 and temporary secret detention facilities “may have been located at US military bases” in Europe, says Parliament’s temporary committee on CIA activities in Europe. Its final report deplores the passivity of some Member States in the face of illegal CIA operations, and a lack of co-operation from the EU Council of Ministers. It calls for a formal investigation under EU Treaty Article 7 on breaches of fundamental rights.

The report, adopted on Tuesday with 28 votes in favour, 17 against and 3 abstentions, and now due for debate and vote at the February plenary in Strasbourg, says European countries have been “turning a blind eye” to flights operated by the CIA which, “on some occasions, were being used for extraordinary rendition or the illegal transportation of detainees.” In some cases, says the report, “temporary secret detention facilities in European countries may have been located at US military bases” and ‘there may have been a lack of control’ over such bases by European host countries. ‘Secret detention facilities’, it explains, can also include places where somebody is held incommunicado, such as hotel rooms, as in the case of Khaled El-Masri in Skopje in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The Temporary Committee therefore “expects the Council to start hearings and commission an independent investigation without delay, as foreseen in EU Treaty Article 7”, and, “where necessary, to impose sanctions on Member States in case of a serious and persistent breach of Article 6”.

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