CIA rendition debate

A number of EU governments have been accused of "disgraceful" behaviour for refusing to apologise over allegations that they colluded with the CIA in hosting secret prisons.

The debate on 10 September 2012 focused on a report by the Civil Liberties Committee which looked into allegations that countries including Poland, Lithuania and Romania had been accused of hosting such prisons.

Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in 't Veld said the EU was a "community of values" and that governments "needed to be held account for human rights violations carried out in our name".

Many terrorist suspects are alleged to have been taken to other countries where they were tortured or disappeared.

Several nations have been accused of co-operating by hosting secret CIA prisons or allowing CIA flights carrying the prisoners to use airports on their way to other countries.

The report by the Civil Liberties Committee says there needs to be formal investigations as to the role of EU countries, and Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding urged the countries involved to carry out "in-depth, independent and impartial investigations for the truth".

The committee claims that some governments under suspicion have proved unwilling to be co-operative.

A committee of the Lithuanian parliament has concluded that the CIA did set up prisons in the country, although Romania and Poland deny hosting detention facilities.

Polish conservative MEP Konrad Szymanski said that critics of his country were "hypocrites", pointing out that many EU countries had allowed the US to use their air space during the so-called war on terror.

"Giving terrorist leaders the same rights as any other citizen wouldn't be right", he added.

The US has not denied that it flew prisoners across the world, though it insists it never authorised the use of torture.

The report was adopted by 568 votes to 34 at the daily voting session on 11 September 2012.

Useful links:

Democracy Live's guide to how the plenary sessions work.

A disclaimer on the use of simultaneous interpretations, on the European Parliament's website.