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Alleged CIA Prison Camps, Prisoner Transports in East Europe Denied

Posted on: Monday, 7 November 2005, 15:00 CST

Text of two related articles, headlined "One after another, secret prisons denied; the airplane has landed without prisoners; everyone believes that the prison camps are somewhere else", by Hungarian newspaper Nepszabadsag website on 4 November

Without prisoners, they "found" the airplane a Danish minister talked about yesterday, but Hungarian officials were unaware of the airplane's stopover in Budapest, moreover, all officials declared the airplane's registration code to be nonexistent.

As revealed today, the airplane has indeed landed on 3 October at [Budapest] Ferihegy Airport. Its crew of five spent the night in a hotel in Budapest, and continued their flight the next day towards the Middle East. The stopover in Budapest took place according to rules; Hungarian border guards examined the airplane. (A Hungarian photographer took a picture of the airplane.) The same airplane regarded by many as the prisoner transport plane of the CIA, was also photographed in Prague, Malta and Portugal, according to the "Airliners.net" website. Insofar as the transportation of prisoners suspected of terrorism and secret prisoner settlements in East Europe that allegedly guard the prisoners in response to American requests are concerned, The Washington Post that first reported the case maintains its statements despite many denials. Such "black settlements" [as published throughout this text "feketetelep," obscure term] could exist in Poland and Romania, according to Human Rights Watch. There certainly is a settlement like that in Afghanistan, (as proven by a satellite photo).

The rest of the countries discussed in this regard deny the existence of such settlements. Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany also said that he did not receive any kind of request for the establishment of prisons from the USA. He would have rejected such a request had he received one. (The Czechs did receive such a request and rejected it.) According to government spokesman Laszlo Boglar, the Danish official was mistaken when he hinted that the airplane mentioned above, or any other airplane has brought prisoners to Hungary. The Danish [government] spokesman had only this much to say yesterday: they were not interested in who were and who were not on the airplane, they only objected to the fact that the plane flew over Danish airspace despite official Danish requests to the contrary. For lack of jurisdiction, the EU is unofficially gathering information to find out whether black settlements exist in any of the member states or candidates for membership, (they would be pleased if there were none, but even if there were any, they could not do much about it.) The lead article in The Washington Post reproaches the US government for placing the new democracies of East Europe into difficult situations with the secret prisons. The scandal, if there is going to be one, could also harm global cooperation against terrorism.

[Details]

A number of countries, including Hungary have denied yesterday that secret CIA prisons, "black settlements" so called, would exist within their territories. At the same time however, The Washington Post repeated its statements related to this matter.

An editorial in this American newspaper made a separate point to condemn the fact that Washington is also forcing its shameful practice upon the young East European democracies. The presumed facts however, can be figured out only from denials for now. It was also ascertained yesterday that the airplane claimed to be related to the CIA, whose arrival in Budapest was discussed by Danish Minister of Transportation Flemming Hansen, has indeed stopped at Ferihegy Airport. Danish Ministry of Transportation spokesman Jestermann Olsen told Nepszabadsag that they are not saying anything about who or what has been on the airplane; all they say is that it has flown over Denmark.

As we reported in our yesterday's issue, the minister of transportation has been talking about an airplane that flew from the airbase in Keflavik, Iceland to Budapest. Its registration number was N168D, and was owned by the Devon Holding and Leasing Company. This company is one of the organizations of the CIA, according to an earlier exploratory article published in The New York Times. Kurt Andreassen, an official of Neviair that deals with flight control said that the airplane in question, whose flight code was CL35, flew over Denmark on 3 October according to Neviair data. According to its flight plan reported to flight controllers it flew from Reykjavik to Budapest. But has it really reached Budapest? The Danish spokesman obviously could not confirm this. According to information received from Hungarian sources, the airplane landed at Ferihegy on 3 October. Its five-member crew spent the night at the Hotel Kempinski, and left Hungarian airspace on the 4th towards the Near East. The airplane was not guarded during the night. An amateur photographer took a picture of the airplane as it took off.

In response to a journalist's question, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said in Dunaujvaros yesterday that he never received a request from the US for the establishment of secret prisons, but he would have rejected such a request had he received one.

Laszlo Boglar, the prime minister spokesperson told Nepszabadsag that there is no secret prison or settlement whatsoever in Hungary. (Incidentally, 627 foreign citizens are held in prison in Hungary; all were convicted by Hungarian courts of law.) Insofar as the airplane is concerned, it entered Hungarian airspace in a manner fully consistent with rules, and left Hungarian airspace according to rules after a night's rest. In the process of customary aviation licensing there was no reason or foundation for linking the five- member crew's rest period in Budapest to any kind of prisoner transportation, the prime minister's spokesman said.

"I beg of you, not to believe all kinds of fake news about secret prisons," Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz said yesterday in his capacity as leader of the government's national security cabinet. The Hungarian Government has not received from anyone any requests for the placement of Iraqi or other prisoners for compensation in Hungarian prisons, and to establish conditions for interrogating prisoners by authorities having jurisdiction, Juhasz said. He emphasized that no such prisoners exist in Hungary, and there will be no such prisoners in the future either. In Juhasz's view, the government would also have known if persons suspected of having committed terrorist acts had been transported through Hungarian airspace, but no movement of this kind has taken place.

The EU has no legitimate opportunity to object to assumed CIA camps. Even if there were such settlements based on bilateral agreements with the US, the agreements would almost certainly require the various states that are parties to the agreement to maintain full secrecy and silence, a high-ranking EU diplomat dealing with internal cooperation told Nepszabadsag yesterday. He added: Even the existence of such settlements would not violate in and of itself the basis of European law that could be referred to, i.e., the European Council's agreement prohibiting torture and inhuman treatment. To take action against such prisons, one would have to prove that prisoners have actually been treated that way, presumably terrorists linked to or suspected of being linked to the Al-Qa'idah.

Having said all this, one could hardly expect the EU to deal with this matter more intensely. In any event, the topic has been raised by journalists at the European Commission's daily press briefing. Friso Roscam Abbing, spokesperson for Franco Frattini, vice chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over internal and judicial affairs had this to say: Brussels is going to unofficially request information from the member states to enable the EU to judge whether international agreements they have signed are being complied with.

The diplomat specializing in internal cooperation contacted by Nepszabadsag said that even though one cannot rule out the existence of such prison settlements within the EU, in recent years the US has endeavoured to export these kinds of interrogations to countries allied with the US, which have not signed agreements that would excessively tie their hands, and where one need not worry too much about press inquiries either, because of censorship. The US has done so precisely in order to avoid international legal complications, according to our Brussels reporter.

In the US they are debating what to do with prisoners suspected of committing terrorist acts, according to our Washington reporter. William Thornberry, the Republican chairman of the subcommittee overseeing the secret services said that the time has come for the US to ponder what should be done with the prisoners. Republican Senator John McCain, who has spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said that the problem is graver than he thought, if reports concerning the CIA's prisoners are true. The Senate approved 90 -9 a legislative proposal offered by Senator McCain, establishing strict rules for interrogation. Democratic legislators have already indicated that they were drafting amendments to McCain's proposal that would also prohibit the CIA from torturing prisoners.

The White House has done everything it could so far to torpedo the proposal that would "restrict the scope of presidential authority." In the course of debate they argued based on the interrogation rules of the land-based forces, prohibiting several methods used in the Abu Ghraib prison that have sparked worldwide outrage, such as the denial of sleep or the deployment of dogs. These and other processes that serve to embitter the prisoners' lives are still being applied at the American Guantanamo base in Cuba. In addition, the defence secretary could revise the rule with a personal order at any time.

So far the US has neither confirmed, nor denied the existence of CIA black settlements. National Security Chief Counsel Stephen Hadley said that President Bush has always insisted that prisoners be treated "in a manner consistent with American values and principles," regardless of whether the outside world knows or does not know of these things. He also made reference to the fact that failure to comply with this directive would have consequences.

An anonymous CIA official told The Baltimore Sun that the establishment of special prisons patterned after the former British prison colony in Botany Bay, Australia has been discussed at the highest levels. No decision has been reached however, because the White House regarded an ex-lex condition as most efficient.

Romanian authorities have denied claims according to which the CIA operates secret prisons within the territory of Romania, we were told by our reporter in Kolozsvar [Cluj Napoca]. Adriana Saftoiu, spokesperson for the head of state said that President Traian Basescu has consulted with state institutions having jurisdiction regarding this matter, and said that "no information regarding possible CIA prisons in Romania exists." Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said that "there are no CIA bases" within the territory of Romania, and the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) also indicated that "they have no information regarding the existence of CIA prisons operating in Romania." The spokesman for the Romanian Foreign Intelligence (SIE) did not want to comment on press reports.

In contrast, Human Rights Watch Director Tom Malinowski wrote in an article published in Financial Times yesterday, that black settlements are being, or have been operated in Poland and in Romania. Malinowski said that the Mihail Kogalniceanu military airbase next to a Constanta [Romania] was the chief transfer point used by the CIA to transfer people captured by the Americans. Human Rights Watch concluded that secret prisons used by the CIA exist in Romania. To prove its case, the human rights organization mentioned the case of the Boeing 757 airplane with serial number N313P that can be proven to have carried suspected terrorist captives in 2003. It took off in Kabul and landed at the Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase of Constanta. The airplane is owned by Premier Executive Transport Services, also included in the already-mentioned article in The New York Times [i.e., that this company too, is owned by the CIA]. American soldiers used the airbase in Constanta until June 2003, but certain information indicates that activities continued in buildings constructed by the Americans as late as in September 2003.

Polish officials vehemently, but somewhat ambiguously denied information according to which the CIA's prisoners were held in Northeastern Poland, near Lake Mazur. The Polish media have reported assumptions according to which the place in question might have been the Szymany military airport near Szczytno. This base is owned by the Polish Defence Ministry asset management agency, and is presently managed by a limited liability corporation. Incidentally, a representative of this firm complained to PAP Polish news agency about a slump in business. They understand that a facility of Polish intelligence exists in the vicinity of Szymany. This is realistic, because the district is near the Russian border. The report was denied by the directors of local administration and of the military district, as well as by the cabinet chief of President Aleksander Kwasniewski. Former Deputy Defence Minister Janusz Zemke denied that the Americans had requested that Poland agree to have their prisoners guarded in Poland. He added: one cannot rule out the possibility that "such a situation might have existed in other states in East-Central Europe."

In a peculiar way, in Prague they know only that they rejected an American request for the establishment of prisons, according to Interior Minister Frantisek Buban. At the same time however, other states in the region have already satisfied the request, according to the Czech "Aktualne.cz" website.

Source: BBC Monitoring European

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