Brussels, 24/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Poland guilty of cooperating in the preparation of a secret CIA detention programme for suspected terrorists. Poland was found guilty for allowing the torture of a Palestinian and a Saudi on its territory between 2002 and 2003, prior to their being transferred to the US Guantanamo Bay base where they are still being held.
Poland cooperated in the preparation and execution of the CIA rendition, secret detention and interrogation operations on its territory and, according to a unanimous decision by European judges, the country should have known that, by allowing the CIA to detain such people on its territory, it was running the risk of allowing treatment to be meted out that was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.
The European Court of Human Rights were approached by the lawyers of Abu Zubaydah, a 43-year-old Palestinian, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a 49-year-old Saudi Arabian. The lawyers claimed that the Polish authorities knew perfectly well what was happening and had allowed the CIA to secretly detain their clients for several months in Poland between 2002 and 2003 where they were tortured, particularly by employing the water boarding technique. The Polish authorities have three months to request the dossier to be examined again at the Upper Chamber at the ECHR, a request which the ECHR is not obliged to grant.
In the two cases, the judges ruled that Poland had not respected the obligation incumbent upon it under Article 38 of the European Convention on Human Rights (to provide every facility needed to conduct an effective investigation). They also concluded that there had been several breaches of articles on the banning of torture and inhumane or degrading treatment, the right to respect for private and family life and the right to a fair trial. In a resolution at the end of 2013, MEPs called on the Council to carry out a broader investigation into the involvement of member states in secret detention practices. Lithuania, Romania, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Slovakia are among those suspected by MEPs of being implicated. (SP)