Strasbourg, 14/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Monday evening, Giovanni Fava (PES, Italy), rapporteur to the European Parliament's temporary committee on the suspected use by the CIA of European countries for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners, said, “We are not here to have prejudices, we want a real enquiry. We have to gather the facts”. MEPs also had discussions with Commissioner Franco Frattini.
This first committee meeting was about establishing a working method and a possible list of people to be interviewed, said Carlos Coelho (EPP-ED, Portugal). Mr Fava stressed the need to gather the maximum of data and proof on CIA operations in Europe, before presenting an interim report in June. The work of the committee will have two phases. The first should allow first-hand witnesses to be heard from human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Statewatch, and journalists who have investigated the affair. Judges presiding over current investigations will also be heard, without compromising confidentiality, and former intelligence officers, like Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA. “We are going to work openly. But if it is necessary to meet behind closed doors to guarantee the safety of witnesses, we'll do it,” Mr Coelho was at pains to point out. “It is also important to hear the victims,” added Mr Fava, saying that, apart from the case of Khaled El-Masri, there were other confirmed cases of people being taken then freed because someone made a mistake. (Mr El-Masri, a German citizen, was kidnapped in December 2003 and taken to Afghanistan on a CIA aircraft; he was then held and tortured for four months before being released without charge.)
“We do not plan on sending out people into the field to investigate elements that back up the existence of detention centres, until the second phase, when we have more information”, explained Mr Fava. During the committee debate, Wolgang Kreissl-Dörfler (PES, Germany) warned that, “identifying or pointing the finger at countries involved, without having sufficiently convincing proof would have dangerous consequences for them. We have to work in a professional manner”. Was it necessary to go to Romania or Poland, Jas Gawronski (EPP-ED, Italy) proved sceptical, considering that it was “impossible to obtain results in three or four days”. In the context of high level US representatives, Mr Fava said that Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State (who appeared positive about it in the press) would be among the guests, as well as her predecessor Colin Powell. Mr Fava said that “It is very important to verify who, in the US Administration, is ready to cooperate”. Mr Gawronski, however, warned against the risk of hurting the USA and explained that, “if we decide to send a temporary committee delegation to Washington, those who get a hearing really have something to say to us…If the opposite happens, our credibility will be tarnished”. The second phase will consist in giving a hearing to senior officials from EU Member States, such as the US coordinator for the war on terrorism, Gijis de Vries, candidate country and third country candidates and to question them about what information has been assembled.
The Commissioner responsible for justice, freedom and security, Franco Frattini, reminded MEPs that “the fight against terrorism must not undermine (…) the guarantees and the fundamental freedoms of the individual”. Mr Frattini expressed his disappointment as, that same day, only four Member States ratified the treaties concluded in 2003 between the EU and the United States on extradition and mutual assistance. “The ratification process must be accelerated”, he said with a view to the summit in June with the United States. When asked whether European institutions are only focusing on Poland and Romania, Mr Frattini said: “We are not accusing anyone. We cannot speak of guilt until the facts have been established”. Promising his support to MEPs, Mr Frattini also gave his assurance that all documents and means made available to the Council of Europe for its own inquiry would also be made available to the European Parliament. Answering Augusto Catania (GUE/NGL, Italy), who wanted to know whether, when he was Italian foreign minister in Italy, he had been informed of the possible kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan, in 2003, Mr Frattini did not beat about the bush saying: “No, I knew nothing about it”. The next meeting of the temporary commission will be held on 23 February in the presence of Dick Marty (see EUROPE 9116 on the subject of the interim report presented by the rapporteur for the Assembly of the Council of Europe) and NGO representatives.