US Senate revelations of the CIA's use of torture and other cruel or degrading treatment of detainees in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the alleged complicity of some EU member states, will be debated with the Council and Commission on Wednesday next week, on the eve of the winter EU summit.
Some MEP’s also want a debate on the issue. "The continuedsilenceof EU member states is a disgrace," saidSophie in 't Veldof the liberal ALDE group. From the Greens, Eva Joly also said that“this is a new proof that should push the US to accept its responsibility”.
Until now, the Commission's reaction has been muffled, the only reaction being that theUS Senate report exposing the brutal, yet ineffective, CIA torture of al-Qaida suspects was a "positive step" in recognising the program's failings.
"The report raises important questions about the violation of human rights by the US authorities," Catherine Ray,spokeswomanfornewlyinstalled EU foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini,said on Wednesday.
"This report is a positive step in confronting publicly and critically the Central Intelligence Agency's detention and interrogation program."
Rayshe said she could not address allegations that several EU member states were implicated in the CIA's global anti-terror network, including in the secret renditions of suspects to the US security forces for interrogation.
Asked about the role allegedly played by countries such as Poland and Romania, among others, Ray said the US report made no mention of third countries and so she could not comment.
InRomania, the reaction to the allegation thata secretCIAprison to operate inside thecountry isverging on the indifference, but in Poland it received official confirmation.After years of denials, two former Polish leaders acknowledged Wednesday the existence of such a secret prison,but insisted they never authorised the harsh treatment or torture of its inmates.
"The U.S. side asked the Polish side to find a quiet site where it could conduct activity that would allow to effectively obtain information from persons who had declared a readiness to cooperate with the U.S. side," Kwasniewski said. "We gave our consent to that." He saidPolanddemanded that people who would be held in the country should be treated humanely as prisoners of war, according to their rights.
Kwasniewski was in power from 1995 to 2005, but like Miller and other left-wing government leaders of the time, he denied the site's existence until recently.
In an effort to justify the sudden acknowledgment, Kwasniewski said later in a TV interview that he had been previously bound to keep state secrets.
Kwasniewski also said the prison, which he referred to as a "site," was part of "deepened" intelligence cooperation with the U.S. in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks, and he insisted he had no knowledge of what took place inside it. He said he only learned that detainees had been tortured there from leaks to the press starting in 2006.
Kwasniewski and Miller both criticized the publication of the U.S. report, saying it hurt the interests of the United States, and of its allies at a dangerous time for international security. They said it also could undermine confidence in America.
"If a key U.S. agency was deceiving its own president ... the allies will be asking: How can we trust our U.S. partners?" Kwasniewski said. "With this publication the Americans lose their potential as an ally."
He said the report exposed America's weakness, especially in the eyes of Russia.
US President Barack Obama banned harsh interrogation tactics upon taking office, calling the treatment "torture." But he has shown little interest in holding accountable anyone involved, a sore point among human rights groups and his supporters on the left.
Lawyers representing formerCIAdetainees have introduced cases in Europe and Canada, though to little success thus far. Undeclared prisons existed in Poland,Romaniaand Lithuania, among countries.
Twenty-six Americans, mostlyCIAagents, were convicted in absentia in Italy of kidnapping a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003, limiting their ability to travel for fear of extradition. The formerCIAbase chief in Italy was briefly detained in Panama last year before being returned to the U.S.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/report-cias-use-torture-continued-silence-eu-member-states%E2%80%9D