Report on secret CIA prisons gets mixed reaction

Swedish parliamentarian Dick Marty presented on Wednesday a report on CIA secret detentions in Europe. The document Mr Marty states is based on solid evidence has sparked heated discussions in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Senator Dick Marty’s second report on secret CIA prison camps in Eastern Europe describes inhumane conditions aimed at destroying detainees’ personalities. The report condemns the wall of silence surrounding secret CIA prisons. It alleges Poland and Romania collaborated with the CIA to have secret detention centres and that other European countries allowed the CIA to transport prisoners across their territories.

Senator Marty says his report is based on information gleaned from anonymous intelligence agents. He alleges their accounts fit with thousands of flight records, showing a network of prisoner transfers between 2002 and 2005.

“Whenever there’s an American base in a foreign country, it is hard for local authorities to do anything about what’s going on there. That’s the American philosophy. Nothing is done against an American, be he a military employee or a civilian,” states Dick Marty. 

Critics, though, say the report lacks substance and is sensationalist.

“It is a far-fetched conspiracy theory spiced with a generous handful of anti-americanism. It sounds like a book review, and it is no coincidence for what we have before us is a piece of fiction, a gripping political thriller,” retorted Urszula Gacek from the Polish Conservative Party.

At the same time, the head of the Parliamentary Assembly describes Senator Marty as a serious, cautious and honest man – one not prone to sensationalism.

The investigation into CIA prisons and flights headed by Dick Marty is over and he says it is now up to the American and European governments to perform their duty of truth.

But there is one part of Dick Marty’s report that does not relate directly to the CIA. It concerns Russia, alleging that human rights abuses have been committed in secret detention centres in Chechnya. So that is where senator Dick Marty says he is going for his next investigation.