Lietuva in brief - 2012-05-02

  • 2012-05-02

President Dalia Grybauskaite says that Lithuania has done everything possible to investigate allegations about two secret CIA prisons in the country, reports ELTA. However, the investigation is not yet completed because the U.S. did not provide the necessary information, Lithuanian National Television reports. “We were asked if the political probe was completed. Without any doubt, Lithuania, to my mind, is one of the most open countries which politically did all that it was able to. However, the legal investigation got stalled because the U.S. had not provided the necessary information to Lithuania. Politically-wise we did everything possible to investigate the allegations, while the legal process remains unclosed,” she said on April 26. A delegation of the European Parliament arrived in Lithuania last week to look into the alleged operation of a CIA secret prison in the country. Earlier, Lithuania launched an investigation into allegations following reports by U.S. TV channel ABC News in 2009 about two covert CIA prisons outside Vilnius. The 2009 parliamentary probe revealed that CIA-related planes entered Lithuania’s airspace several times between 2003 and 2006.

On April 27, history buffs from the Netherlands and other European countries gathered in Lithuania to retrace Napoleon’s disastrous retreat from Russia 200 years ago, reports the Associated Press. The enthusiasts, decked out in period costumes and strolling alongside Napoleon-era carriages, attracted large crowds of onlookers in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. The history buffs intend to copy the 2,000 kilometer trek from Vilnius to France - through Poland, Germany and the Netherlands - that decimated Napoleon’s Grand Army in 1812 and precipitated the emperor’s downfall. The Dutch organizers hope to raise money throughout the event for children who suffered from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.