Brussels, 28/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament report denouncing the illegal activities of the CIA in Europe is totally unreasonable, said John Bellinger, the US State Department's legal advisor, on Wednesday. The conclusions of the report are “unbalanced, inaccurate and unfair”, Bellinger commented during a meeting in Brussels with a small group of journalists. “I can understand concerns about specific incidents but we should not somehow suggest that all intelligence activity is something illegal or suspicious”, he added. On 14 February, the European Parliament approved a controversial report that accuses several member states of closing their eyes to the extraordinary rendition of prisoners by the CIA, in obvious violation of European human rights legislation. The report above all denounces collusion between certain European secret services which took part in the activity of CIA agents (EUROPE 9366). Regarding the location of “black sites” in Europe used for the detention of prisoners suspected of terrorism, Bellinger noted that many allegations concerning CIA activity were “just rumours”. Bellinger, who officiates as advisor to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, had gone to Brussels last year to call on EU leaders to intervene on the subject of the many accusations being made against American action to combat terrorism (EUROPE 9186).
The US representative confirmed, moreover, the doubts about the possible extradition of 26 agents working for the CIA, who were recently charged under Italian justice for having kidnapped an imam in Milan, in 2003. “We've not got an extradition request from Italy. If we got an extradition request from Italy, we would not extradite US officials to Italy”, said Bellinger. The Muslim dignitary, better known by the name of Abu Omar, had been taken to an American base in northern Italy and then transferred to Egypt via Germany, where he states he was tortured using electricity, beaten, subjected to sexual abuse and threatened with of rape. Without wishing to give any specific examples, Bellinger nonetheless reasserted that the United States would never hand over a person suspected of terrorism to another country without first receiving assurance that that person would be treated properly. In this affair, the prosecutor's office states that a team of CIA agents backed by members of the SISMI (Italian military intelligence service) had abducted Abu Omar in February 2003 in a street in Milan (EUROPE 9147). The judge for preliminary hearings in Milan, Caterina Interlandi, also took General Niccolò Pollari, former SISMI chief, before the courts. Pollari had been dismissed in November for involvement in this affair.
The General was on the prosecution's list of accused, which included, former CIA leaders in Italy, Americans Jeff Castelli and Robert Seldon Lady. Thirty-five people in total are accused in this affair, 32 of whom are accused of abduction and 3 for complicity in abductions. This will involve the first trial in the illegal transfer of prisoners, often called “extraordinary renditions”. It is likely that US prisoners will therefore be judged in absentia. The beginning of the trial has been set for 8 June.
Continued legal investigations carried out by Union member states into CIA activities could undermine trans-Atlantic cooperation between intelligence services, affirmed Mr Bellinger. He declared that, “the continuing threat of criminal charges can harm intelligence cooperation…but does also cast a pall over cooperation on the European side as well”.
Bellinger finally set about the Europeans, criticising them for not helping to resolve the problem posed by the Guantanamo detention centre in Cuba, in the slightest. In the tone adopted by the White House, he was adamant that the US government wanted to close the detention centre but Washington did not know what to do with the prisoners who are currently incarcerated there. Almost 400 prisoners are still in Guantanamo, some of them have been there for five years. Bellinger stressed that, “We have seen many stamens from European governments saying Guantanamo must be closed immediately. It's not clear how Guantanamo would be immediately closed”. He added that Europe had proved ready to criticise but, “has not been prepared to offer a constructive suggestion”. He highlighted the fact that the US had sought assistance from the Europeans to help prisoners from the Middle East return to their countries. According to Bellinger, no offer had been made by European countries in this connection. (bc)