Lithuania to investigate secret CIA prison

The President of Lithuania has called for an official investigation into an alleged secret CIA prison in a residential area of the capital Vilnius. The Lithuanian Parliament will consider the probe next week.

Also, American ABC News.com has reported flight details and the location thought to have been used to interrogate prisoners. These prisoners are claimed to be top level Al-Qaeda leaders captured after 9/11.

The country’s leadership has repeatedly denied any involvement in the detention of Al-Qaeda suspects. However, earlier this week President Dalia Grybauskaite said she had “indirect suspicions” about the presence of such detention camps in Lithuania.

On Tuesday, she went on to say: “If this is true, Lithuania has to clean up, accept responsibility, apologize, and promise that it will never happen again,” the Lithuanian president said.

This August, the TV network ABC published on its website a report claiming a prison for Al-Qaeda suspects operated in Lithuania for more than a year from 2004 through 2005.

Until this year, Lithuania remained the only unknown European country hosting the so-called “black sites”. Four years ago, a scandal broke out when American media reported that Poland and Romania housed secret prisons on their territories. According to ABC, this prompted the CIA to close the Lithuanian site.

When, back in 2005, the Council of Europe launched an investigation into Poland’s and Romania’s involvement into the CIA program, Lithuania managed to escape any accusations.

In a new twist, the European body has reopened the investigation into Lithuania’s role in the matter.