25 November 2005

BERLIN - The Council of Europe pledged Friday to unearth the truth behind allegations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), operated covert prisons in Europe and secretly transported terrorist suspects through European airports.

A report presented in Bucharest by the chairman of the council's Legal Affairs Committee, Swiss liberal Dick Marty, suggested that satellite images could be used to determine whether the CIA had constructed or dismantled prison facilities.

Marty said he had requested technical support from the European Union's satellite centre in Spain. He has also called on Eurocontrol, the European air traffic organisation, to provide details on the movements of 31 planes which the CIA are alleged to have used since 2002 to secretly transport terrorist suspects through U.S. airbases in Europe.

In a statement issued in Bucharest, the Council of Europe made clear that, while it would not go as far as imposing sanctions, it would get to the truth of the matter.

"Even in the name of the war against terror the inhumane and illegal arrest and secret transportation of prisoners in Europe cannot and will not be tolerated," the statement said.

Marty began his investigation at the start of November following a report in the Washington Post that the U.S. had established eight secret prisons in Poland, Romania and several other eastern European countries.

Polish and Romanian authorities, along with Czech, Georgian, Latvian and Armenian officials have denied the claims.

The countries named in the Washington Post report are all members of the Council of Europe, prompting its secretary-general Terry Davis to launch his own investigation.

Council members must uphold the European Human Rights Convention which forbids the secret transport and torture of prisoners.

U.S. human rights organization Human Rights Watch also claims that since 2002 the CIA has had secret internment facilities in Poland and Romania where al-Qaeda terrorist suspects have been interrogated.

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