EP calls for CIA rendition case to be reopened

The European Parliament's civil liberties, foreign affairs and human rights committees will resume investigations into the CIA's alleged transportation and illegal detention of prisoners in EU countries, in the light of the US Senate's new revelations of the use of torture by the CIA, says a resolution passed on Wednesday. MEPs also again call on EU member states to investigate these allegations and prosecute those involved.

The US Senate report released in December "reveals new facts that reinforce allegations that a number of EU member states, their authorities and officials and agents of their security and intelligence services were complicit in the CIA's secret detention and extraordinary rendition program, sometimes through corrupt means based on substantial amounts of money provided by the CIA in exchange for their cooperation", say MEPs in a resolution approved by 363 votes to 290, with 48 abstentions.

In the light of this new evidence, Parliament instructs its civil liberties, foreign affairs and human rights committees to resume their investigations into the alleged transportation and illegal detention of prisoners in EU countries by the CIA and to report to plenary within a year.

This inquiry would entail, for example, sending a parliamentary fact-finding mission to the EU countries where CIA secret detention sites allegedly existed and gathering all relevant information and evidence on possible bribes or other acts of corruption linked to the CIA program.

Impunity must end

The climate of impunity surrounding the CIA program has "enabled the continuation of fundamental rights violations", as further revealed by the mass surveillance programmes of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and secret services of...