Investigation pinpoints CIA’s secret prison in Lithuania – report

The site in Lithuania where a secret prison, used by the CIA to keep suspected terrorists, used to be has been identified. It used to be a horseback riding academy before the US intelligence moved it.

The place was identified thanks to documents provided by Lithuanian officials to the ABC news channel, which is investigating the alleged shady episode in relations between America and the Baltic state.

A Lithuanian family owned the property in the forest, 20 kilometers northeast of the capital Vilnius, until March 2004, when it was bought by the firm Elite LLC, registered in Delaware, Panama and Washington, DC. The now defunct company was reportedly a front firm for the CIA.

Over several months, the new owners held construction works on the site, with English-speaking guards shooing away curious neighbors. A whole “building within a building” was constructed in the former riding area, ABC reports. It had concrete walled cells to house prisoners and separate cells for interrogations.

The secret prison also had a large garage, while the stables were converted to guard and personnel accommodation. The facility had autonomous electricity supply with American standard 110 volts outlets, as opposed to European 220 volts.

A former CIA official said as many as eight suspects were kept in the Lithuanian secret prison for more than a year. It was closed in 2005, after public disclosure of the “black sites” program.

After the initial report on the suspected secret prison in the country, Lithuanian foreign ministry officials denied its existence. However the parliament launched an investigation into the allegations. The report on it is expected in mid December.