A Swiss investigator has accused European governments of being complicit in illegal CIA activities after reports that the Americans ran secret prisons in Europe.
Swiss senator Dick Marty, investigating the allegations for the 46-nation rights group Council of Europe, said he was personally convinced of the existence of the detention centres but had yet to come up with concrete proof.
"It's not possible to transport people from one place to another in such a manner without the secret services knowing about it," he said. "What was shocking was the passivity with which we all, in Europe, have welcomed these things."
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Mr Marty is to present a preliminary report to the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe on January 23rd over reports the Americans ran centres in eastern Europe where suspects where interrogated, tortured or transported to other countries in a process Washington calls "rendition".
"The strategy in place today respects neither human rights nor the Geneva Conventions," said Mr Marty. "The current administration in Washington is trying to combat terrorism outside legal means, the rule of law."
"Europeans should be less hypocritical and not turn a blind eye," he said at a news briefing. "There are those who do the dirty work abroad but there are also those who know when they should close their eyes when that dirty work is being done."
Mr Marty referred to the case of an Egyptian cleric alleged to have been kidnapped by the CIA in Milan in 2003 and transported to Egypt, where the man later said he was tortured.
A Milan court last month issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of involvement in the case. Italy's government has strongly denied knowledge of the operation.
The Milan case is one of several investigations into whether US agents used Europe to illegally transfer militant suspects to third countries for interrogation.
"The proof is completely clear and the CIA has never denied it," Mr Marty said. Romania, Poland and others have denied they let the United States hold terrorism suspects on their territory.
The US government has neither denied nor confirmed the reports of secret jails, first made by the Washington Postin November.
"This is not just a problem for Romania and Poland," Mr Marty said. "It's not acceptable to criminalise these two countries. It's all Europe which has been willingly silent on the matter."
The senator said he was convinced of the existence of secret detention centres in Europe. But his investigation would probably not be completed for another year as he seeks more evidence.
"It's not like Guantanamo Bay," he said, but more like "empty rooms where people have been interrogated or tortured or taken somewhere else".