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European Parliament urges member states to investigate secret prisons

Xinhua, June 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution on Wednesday calling on the member states of the European Union (EU) to "investigate, insuring full transparency, the allegations that there were secret prisons on their territory in which people were held under the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program."

Faced with the "apathy shown by member states and EU institutions" regarding "the multiple fundamental rights violations and torture", which took place during CIA rendition operations held on European soil between 2001 and 2006, members of European Parliament (MEPs) called on EU member states and its high institutions the bring those responsible and their accomplices to justice.

This resolution follows another parliamentary resolution from Feb. 11, 2015, concerning the worrying report from the U.S. Senate, made public in December 2014, accusing the CIA to have made recourse to torture within the fight against terrorism that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, including within EU countries.

The CIA had been required to put an end to this program in 2006 after it was revealed in the press.

In this non-binding text, adopted by 329 votes in favor, 299 against and 49 abstentions, the European Parliament deplores that, more than a year after the publication of this study, no one responsible had been brought to justice.

The MEPs also fear that "undue classification of documents" leads to "de facto impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations."

They ask that additional investigations be organized within the EU member states identified as being partners in the CIA detention and interrogation program, such as Lithuania, Poland, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The European Commission and the European Council must give an account to the Parliament of the results of the investigations and the related legal cases within the member states before the end of June 2016, insist the MEPs.

The EP also deplores, in this resolution, that the Guantanamo Bay detention center is still open despite the fact that U.S. President Barack Obama committed himself to its closure during his campaign for 2012 reelection. This military prison situated on the island of Cuba had been opened after the Sept. 11 attacks by then U.S. president George W. Bush. Enditem