CIA renditions: MEPs want member states to bring those responsible to justice

The European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution by 329 votes to 299, with 49 abstentions, in which MEPs call on EU member states to "investigate, insuring full transparency, the allegations that there were secret prisons on their territory in which people were held under the CIA programme.” The EU body voiced serious concerns at the "apathy shown by member states and EU institutions" and about recognising "the multiple fundamental rights violations and torture" that took place in US CIA “rendition” operations on European soil between 2001 and 2006. MEPs are concerned that "undue classification of documents" leads to "de facto impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations." They also called for more fact-finding missions to be organised by the European Parliament in those member states which have been identified as complicit in the CIA's detention and interrogation programme, such as Lithuania, Poland, Italy and the UK. In July 2014, the European Court of Justice ordered Poland to pay compensation totaling €230,000 to two Guantanamo inmates, who were tortured in Poland. The court also obliged Poland to run a criminal investigation into the black sites.