Buildings in Lithuania possibly used as secret CIA prison

Dec 23, 2009, 6:16 GMT

Vilnius - Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said Tuesday that a parliamentary investigation organized at her behest had confirmed the existence of special buildings that could have served as a secret CIA prison operated in the country from September 2004 until November 2005.

The findings of the special parliamentary committee, published Tuesday, said that while infrastructure that could have been used as a prison had been constructed, there was no evidence to prove it had been used as such.

US media reported in November that the CIA operated a secret centre for terrorism suspects outside Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

Grybauskaite's spokesman Linas Balsys said: 'Basically, the president's suspicions were confirmed, as the committee's investigation found that there were special buildings equipped for this (purpose). They existed and could have been adapted to accommodate detainees.'

Arvydas Anusauskas, the chairman of the National Security and Defense Committee that conducted the investigation said it had uncovered suspicious US flights to the Baltic state as well.

'It was not possible to determine the identity of passengers, cargo or destination,' Anusauskas told a news conference.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said Tuesday the report's findings were serious but should not be allowed to damage relations with the United States.

'The US is a strategic ally of Lithuania in all fields, including covert operations and counter-terrorism. However, the strategic partnership should not be an excuse to use essentially Soviet methods, ignore civilian controls and break the law,' he said.

The report showed urgent reforms were needed within Lithuania's security services, Kubilius said.

US broadcaster ABC and the Washington Post claimed in November that a secret facility capable of holding up to eight terrorism suspects, had operated at the Antaviliai equestrian complex located 20 kilometres outside Vilnius.

A concrete wall was reportedly built inside the stable block by English-speaking contractors to create a 'building within a building.'

The parliamentary probe attempted to lay to rest years of rumour surrounding the purported existence of the facility. During the investigation, numerous senior figures were questioned including security officials and former presidents Valdas Adamkus and Rolandas Paksas.

Adamkus, who renounced US citizenship in 1998 and served as Lithuanian President from 2004 to 2009, was critical of the report but said it proved no detainees had been brought into Lithuania during his time in office.

'I am certain this never happened and nobody has proved me wrong,' he told the Baltic News Service.

'Lithuania is not such a big country that keeping something like this secret would be possible,' he said.

Paksas, who was impeached from the presidency in 2004 and now leads the Order and Justice party, took an opposite view.

'When you read the commission's conclusions about airplanes, facilities, equipment and unimpeded flow of cash, the conclusion is very simple - a state within a state,' he said.

On December 14 Povilas Malakauskas, the general director of Lithuania's national intelligence service, tendered his resignation without giving a clear reason for doing so.

Most commentators agree that he came under pressure for failing to provide satisfactory answers to the parliamentary probe.