After visit to Lithuania, EP delegates say there are unansweded questions about alleged CIA prison

At the same time, the MEPs said that Lithuania's parliamentary probe was an example for other European countries that could have been involved in the CIA's secret detention and rendition program, which was launched after the 9/11 attacks.

Helene Flautre, an appointed rapporteur on the matter, told Vilnius journalists on Friday that the position of prosecutors was not entirely consistent with the conclusions of the parliamentary probe.

"The prosecutor said clearly that nobody was held in detention. This is something that raised a number of questions, we were even astonished, we will send written questions to prosecutors and work to clarify the aspect," she told at a news conference at the parliament.

At a meeting with the EP delegation on Wednesday, Deputy Prosecutor General Darius Raulušaitis said that the investigation that was terminated last year revealed that "no such person was kept in detention."

During a parliamentary investigation in late 2009, two locations were identified in Vilnius and near the Lithuanian capital where premises might have been equipped for detention of prisoners.

The parliamentary probe also showed that CIA-related planes entered Lithuania's airspace in 2003-2006 several times. The investigations failed, however, to identify if any suspected terrorists were actually brought to Lithuania.

The findings also refer to two premises for the detainees, one of them featuring secrecy and perimeter security, with fragmented presence of officials of the Lithuanian State Security Department allowing uncontrolled operations of partner officials.

"We heard from the prosecutors that they had evidence proving nothing was held in detention there, while the parliamentary probe revealed that there was no proof of detention of people. These are different statements," Flautre said.

In her words, it is crucial to collect as much information as possible about the CIA-related flights in order to evaluate statements made by non-governmental organizations about detention of Abu Zubaydah of Palestine in Lithuania.

Abu Zubaydah was detained in Pakistan in 2002. His lawyers maintain he was later held in secret detention centers in Thailand, Poland, Morocco, and Lithuania and moved to Guantanamo in 2007. He has been recognized as victim in Poland, the judicial process continues.

"Just like other countries, Lithuania has not yet fully established everything, there are still uncertainties in connection to the flights," Flautre said.

The Friday's visit to the parliament wrapped up the three-day visit of the EP delegation, which included a visit to the Prosecutor General's Office, meetings with Justice Minister Remigijus Šimašius and advisers to President Dalia Grybauskaitė, a visit to the alleged location of the CIA detention facility outside Vilnius that currently serves as the State Security Department's training center.

In Flautre's words, the delegation's impression was that "Lithuanian security structures are simply guarding the building to prevent any operations there."

"The dual structure, the double walls, we saw them and, for example, the different sizing of premises and location of premises is also very specific," Flautre said after his visit to Antaviliai.

She said that members of the EP Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs picked Lithuania in an effort to encourage other countries to look for truth.

"We chose Lithuania because of the positive actions taken by Lithuania in connection to the CIA network. We would like this visit to encourage Lithuania and encourage other countries to establish full truth about the problem and learn from the Lithuanian example," the EP member said.

Flautre said he was happy about Lithuania's political will to resume the investigation, if new significant information is received.

Arvydas Anušauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian parliamentary National Security and Defense Committee that performed the parliamentary inquiry, emphasized the importance of “understanding” between Lithuanian MPs and MEPs.

"Lithuania thinks that a sufficient amount of work has been done. Especially since it is so far the only parliamentary inquiry that has been completed. Other investigations in other countries were never started or were opened and terminated," Anušauskas said during a joint news conference.

In his words, the investigation helped improve the coordination and control of intelligence services and awareness of politicians about operations of reconnaissance services.

"Conclusions of the parliamentary probe were important in the efforts to improve and change laws, including the Reconnaissance Law. We also communicated this to the European Parliament's delegation," he said.

Lithuania's top officials maintain that, amid the US refusal to provide any information, Lithuania has done everything in its power to investigate the alleged presence of secret CIA centers on its soil.

Poland and Romania have also been accused of allowing the US to build secret detention centers for suspected terrorists.