The EU's top justice official acknowledged suspected terrorists had been transferred to US intelligence agents on European territory, and said governments had a duty to determine whether these actions were illegal.
EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini spoke on Tuesday after Europe's leading human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, voted to continue its inquiry into alleged CIA secret flights and prisons in Europe and called for safeguards to prevent human rights abuses by foreign intelligence agents and European countries.
The vote by the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly also endorsed the findings of an investigation by Swiss Senator Dick Marty, who earlier this month reported circumstantial evidence of several such incidents on European territory since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US. The US uses the euphemism "extraordinary rendition" to describe such operations.
Frattini said it was not clear whether governments were aware of them or cooperated, and it was similarly unclear whether the "renditions" were legal.
In Washington, the US State Department had no comment on Frattini's statement.
US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli, however, said the US "acts according to its laws and values to protect innocent citizens around the world from terrorism."
Frattini said it was up to national authorities to investigate all reports of questionable CIA activities on their territory. Only then would the EU be able to take action, should collusion or breaches of international human rights standards by EU member states be proven, he said.
"It's extremely premature to draw consequences from the elements so far available. What we must do is make sure that national authorities understand that they have not only the power but the duty to carry out judicial investigations," Frattini said.
"They have the duty to establish national committees. I am determined to encourage, to put political pressure if necessary, on the home affairs ministers so that we get results [of the inquiries]. Once you have a court decision only than you can claim you had a valid piece of evidence," he said.
Frattini said it was premature to talk about sanctions against countries for violating Europe's human rights treaties because that would only be possible after a court ruled laws have been broken.
"It's impossible to draw legal judgments now. It's up to national authorities, prosecutors to draw conclusions. We don't know so far, with the legal evidence we have, whether or not governments knew about" the incidents, Frattini said.
He said the planned entry of Romania into the EU next year was not endangered by media reports that it had hosted a CIA secret detention center -- an accusation for which there is no direct evidence.
Poland, Romania, Germany and several other nations have launched inquiries into the reported "renditions," but no wrongdoing has been proven.
In his report, Marty alleged that European nations aided the movement of 17 detainees who said they had been abducted by US agents and then secretly transferred to detention centers around the world. Some said they were transferred to the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and others to alleged secret facilities in countries including Poland, Romania, Egypt and Jordan. Some said they were mistreated or tortured.
Frattini said it was vital for European countries to clearly define the powers of secret services. He also called for clarification of international air traffic rules to ensure that no aircraft used in military, customs or police operations avoids the obligation to obtain special authorization to land.
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