Seimas releases ClA prison report

Dec 23, 2009
Oskars Magone

The American intelligence agency operated two prisons, but it is unclear if any detainees were housed there.

VILNIUS - Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) has released its findings following an investigation into CIA prisons that allegedly operated in the area.

The parliamentary panel, which was commissioned by President Dalia Grybauskaite, confirmed that two secret prisons were run by the American intelligence agency, but was unable to indentify specific instances of detainees being held there.

The report found definitavely that two CIA prisons operated between 2002 and 2005. The first was built in 2002 specifically for use on a single detainee, though the report said that the detainee was never taken there.

The second was located in Antaviliai just outside of Vilnius, though the panel was also unable to determine if anyone had been brought there.

Nonetheless, the report said that several airplanes linked to the CIA landed in Vilnius and Palanga airports in 2002-2005, and that border procedures were bypassed.

The revelations have prompted Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius to call for a restructuring of the country's intelligence agency, dubbed the VSD.

"A small group of VSD officers took the decision to build this detention centre without informing society and, possibly, state leaders, and they circumvented parliamentary control," Andrius Kubilius said in a statement.

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