Lithuanian intelligence watchdog declines to probe alleged CIA site

Lithuania's Office of Intelligence Ombudspersons has declined to launch an investigation into the alleged CIA secret prison that may have operated in the country two decades ago. The watchdog stated that no new significant factual circumstances have emerged to warrant such an investigation.

Senior adviser Justas Gaidys noted that the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence (NSGK) had already conducted an inquiry into the matter over a decade ago. He also pointed out that the Prosecutor General's Office is continuing a reopened pre-trial investigation, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has delivered three judgments concerning the detention of individuals at alleged CIA facilities in Lithuania.

The ombudspersons plan to initiate an inter-agency dialogue with Lithuanian authorities to assess possibilities for obtaining new information and determine whether any further action falls within their remit.

Debate over the alleged prison resurfaced after Lithuania lost its third case before the ECHR in July. The court awarded €30,000 to Saudi national Abd Al Rahim Hussein Al-Nashiri for his unlawful detention at a secret CIA prison in Lithuania. It also ordered Lithuanian authorities to seek assurances from the US that the terrorism suspect would not face the death penalty.

Allegations first emerged in 2009 when ABC News reported that eight terrorism suspects had been held near Vilnius between 2004 and 2005. Later that year, the NSGK concluded it could not establish whether detainees had been transferred to Lithuania, but found that conditions for such transfers had existed. Earlier this year, the Prosecutor General's Office confirmed it is continuing its investigation into alleged unlawful transportation of people across Lithuania's state border.