EU
#CIA renditions: MEPs want member states to bring those responsible to justice
Parliament voiced serious concerns on Wednesday (8 June) 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 programme.” 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 programme, such as Lithuania, Poland, Italy and the UK.
Parliament regrets lack of follow up on US Senate report
Parliament regrets the fact that more than a year after the release of a US Senate study of the renditions programme, no perpetrators have been held to account and the US government has failed to cooperate with EU member states.
MEPs also regret that the Guantánamo 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, they add.
Next steps
MEPs ask Commission and Council to report back to Parliament on the findings of investigations and prosecutions conducted in the member states before the end of June 2016.
The resolution follows up Parliament's resolution of 11 February 2015 on the US Senate report on the use of torture by the CIA. On Wednesday 7 June, Parliament debated the state of play of the investigations on the basis of oral questions to Council and Commission.
Parliament has repeatedly stressed that the fight against terrorism should respect the rule of law, human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms. It has strongly condemned the US-led CIA rendition and secret detention programme and has repeatedly called for full investigations into the involvement of EU member states in these programmes.
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