The European parliament yesterday condemned EU member states who had turned a "blind eye" to secret CIA flights used to transport terror suspects.
The parliament approved a report implicating 13 EU members, including Britain, Germany and Sweden, and called for an "independent inquiry" to be considered.
The deputies regretted "that European countries have been relinquishing their control over their airspace and airports by turning a blind eye or admitting flights operated by the CIA."
The report was endorsed, after members of the European parliament (MEPS) sifted through 270 proposed amendments, by a vote of 382 to 256, with 74 abstentions.
As well as condemning "the acceptance and concealing" of the clandestine prisoner transfers by the secret services and governments of certain European countries, it expressed grave doubts over assertions by nations that they were unaware of the practice.
The parliament called for pressure to be put on the concerned EU governments "to give full and true information" about the operations and "where necessary to start hearings and commission an independent investigation without delay."
The US administration acknowledged last September that the CIA was operating a secret detention program outside the US.
The program was begun in late 2001, following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and continued, according to the report, until late 2005, when questions began to be asked in the press and elsewhere.
Rapporteur Giovanni Fava, who headed the European parliamentary inquiry, cited 1,245 CIA "extraordinary rendition" flights to and from European airports, or over European airspace.
With almost half the total EU members implicated, there were reports of pressure from national governments on the MEPs ahead of the vote, as well as splits within the parliamentary groupings.
The report named 13 EU nations -- Austria, Britain, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden -- along with Bosnia, Macedonia and Turkey.
Over six months, the commission took evidence from 130 people, including government officials, secret service agents, judges, lawyers and journalists.
EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini urged member states to hold national inquiries into the matter.
"The governments need to reveal the truth, even if the truth is disturbing," he told the parliament.
Magistrates and governments should hold administrative enquiries and punish officials found guilty of colluding with illegal CIA action, Frattini said.
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