Poland Supresses CIA Prisons Report

Poland supresses CIA prisons report

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...2/s1537545.htm

Last Update: Saturday, December 24, 2005. 9:39am (AEDT)

The Polish Government has decided not to make public the results of an inquiry into the possible existence of United States CIA prisons on Polish soil.

"The report should not be made public," Jan Dziedziczak said.

Mr Dziedziczak, who has refused to give details, says the matter is considered closed by the authorities.

"The Minister with responsibility for the intelligence services, Zbigniew Wassermann, submitted the results of the inquiry to the supervisory parliamentary commission," he said.

"All the members of the commission said they were satisfied with his explanations and considered the matter closed."

Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz promised last week that the results of the probe would be made known in a comprehensive fashion.

"We must probe this affair to its very depths because it does not foster a situation of security in Poland," Mr Marcinkiewicz said at the time.

"The investigation will completed very quickly, between now and next week. Of course we are going to reveal all the results of this investigation."

Poland announced the inquiry after the US body Human Rights Watch and US media reported that suspected terrorists captured by the Americans were held in detention centres in Poland.

The ABC television network said the US detained 11 senior members of the Al Qaeda network in Poland on unspecified dates.

It also reported that the Central Intelligence Agency evacuated all suspects to north Africa after the row broke out.

On December 9, the Gazeta Wyborcza paper quoted Marc Garlasco of Human Rights Watch as saying Poland housed the CIA's main European base for the interrogation of terror suspects.

Mr Garlasco told the newspaper that local authorities must have known.

European justice commissioner Franco Frattini has warned EU countries and those seeking membership of the bloc of "serious consequences" if they are found to have allowed CIA prisons on their soil.