CIA renditions: EP want member states to bring those responsible to justice

USPA NEWS - European Parliament voiced serious concerns on Wednesday at the "apathy shown by member states and EU institutions" about recognizing "the multiple fundamental rights violations and torture" that took place in US CIA “rendition“ operations on European soil between 2001 and 2006.

Its non-binding resolution urges them to investigate these violations and to bring those responsible for or complicit in them to justice. In the resolution, passed by 329 votes to 299, with 49 abstentions, MEPs call on EU member states to "investigate, insuring full transparency, the allegations that there were secret prisons on their territory in which people were held under the CIA program.“ They are concerned that "undue classification of documents" leads to "de facto impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations."

They also call for more fact-finding missions to be organised by the European Parliament in those member states which have been identified as complicit in the CIA's detention and interrogation program, such as Lithuania, Poland, Italy and the UK. Also European Parliament regrets the fact that more than a year after the release of a US Senate study of the renditions program, no perpetrators have been held to account and the US government has failed to cooperate with EU member states.

MEPs also regret that the Guantanamo detention centre has not yet been closed and call on the US authorities to ensure fair trials, prohibit torture, ill-treatment and detention without trial in all circumstances. EU member states should offer asylum to those prisoners who have been officially cleared for release, European Parliament added Wednesday.