CIA temporary committee hearing: EU Parliament moves into first gear on CIA inquiry

Commenting on the first hearing of European Parliament's temporary committee charged with investigating the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners, Cem Özdemir, (Germany) Vice-president of the CIA temporary committee and Kathalijne Buitenweg, Coordinator for the Greens/EFA on the work of the temporary committee, today said:

"The parliament's temporary committee on CIA activities in Europe moved into first gear today with its initial hearing. The submissions from Armando Spataro, the Italian prosecutor, and Dick Marty, Council of Europe rapporteur, as well as from the different NGOs, confirmed the need for this parliamentary CIA committee. Spataro's clear statement reassured us that we can have confidence in the Italian police and judiciary.

"The European Parliament will have to overcome a lot of obstacles during its investigations. The complete absence of reactions from European governments to the CIA affair is a source of serious regret. Even more concerning, some governments seem to want to obstruct the progress of the inquiries. The Italian Justice minister, for example, has failed to transmit the arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents involved in the abduction of terror suspects for 3 and a half months now. We call upon him to immediately issue this arrest warrant. It is disappointing that some MEPs, notably from the EPP, adopted such a defensive approach in the committee hearing, seemingly more intent on protecting their own governments than seeking to get to the bottom of this issue.

"The role of the secret services will be scrutinised at the next hearing on 6 March. We find it unacceptable that Gijs de Vries, the EU's Counter Terrorism Co-ordinator, has refused to attend this hearing and that the Director of Europol Max-Peter Ratzel has not yet responded to the invitation. This is an appalling lack of co-operation by the own EU institutions, which should have the most interest in clarifying the allegations."

Source: www.greens-efa.org/cms/pressreleases/dok/108/108012.cia_temporary_committee_hearing@en.htm