US was 'outsourcing' torture says European probe
25.01.06
A Swiss investigator said yesterday that there was evidence of 'outsourcing of torture' by the US, but added that he had not uncovered any irrefutable evidence that the CIA operated secret prisons in Europe.
Dick Marty, a Swiss senator investigating the charges for the Council of Europe human rights watchdog, said it was 'highly unlikely' that European governments were unaware of the abduction and transfer of prisoners.
There was 'a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of 'relocation' or 'outsourcing of torture', he said in a preliminary report prepared for the 46-nation body in Strasbourg. The initial findings were serious enough to warrant further investigation, he said.
'It has been proved - and in fact never denied - that individuals have been abducted, deprived of their liberty and transported to different destinations in Europe, to be handed over to countries in which they have suffered degrading treatment and torture. It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware [of this practice],'. Mr Marty added.
The US CIA is alleged to have operated a secret network of jails in Europe, covertly flying prisoners through European airports on the continent in CIA chartered planes. The US government has neither denied nor confirmed the reports of secret detention centres, first made in the Washington Post in November.
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