Members of the EP's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs will arrive in Vilnius on Wednesday and stay until Friday. They are scheduled to meet with Deputy Prosecutor General Darius Raulušaitis and prosecutor Irmantas Mikelionis as well as representatives of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the delegation will meet Minister of Justice Remigijus Šimašius and visit the State Security Department's base in Antaviliai near Vilnius where, according to media reports, a secret detention center was located. The SSD plans to show members of the EP delegation the premises but journalists will not be allowed in.
The MEPs' meeting with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė's advisers and representatives of the Civil Aviation Administration is also scheduled for Thursday.
On Friday, the delegation will visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Seimas where they will hold a press conference.
The European Parliament held hearings in late March on the EU member states' participation in the CIA's secret detention and rendition program which was launched after the 9/11 attacks.
Earlier in April, the Parliament adopted a resolution calling for full investigation into alleged CIA prisons. The Parliament expressed regret over some European Union countries' failure to fully investigate allegations concerning their support for the US Central Intelligence Agency's illegal transportation and imprisonment of suspected terrorists.
Lithuania launched an investigation into CIA prison allegations in the country following reports by US TV channel ABC News in 2009 about a secret CIA prison situated in Antaviliai area near Vilnius. The secret parliamentary probe carried out in Lithuania 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.
Following the parliamentary investigation, Lithuanian prosecutors opened an investigation but terminated the probe last January, with prosecutor Mindaugas Dūda saying that there was no sufficient evidence to claim that premises in Vilnius and near the city had been equipped for detention of prisoners.
Former heads of Lithuania's secret services have ruled out presence of any CIA prison in Lithuania.
2012 04 24
European Parliament delegation to come to Lithuania to investigate CIA prison reports
A delegation from the European Parliament will come to Lithuania on Wednesday to investigate reports that a secret American prison for suspected terrorists might have been set up in the country.
Horse riding base in Antaviliai suspected of having housed a CIA prison. / „Lietuvos žinių“ nuotr.
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