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INTERIGHTS Bulletin Volume 16 Number 1 2010
rendition programme is confirmed, it could be one of the greatest sins of the new Polish democracy. The Polish Constitution of 1997 explicitly prohibits torture, degrading or inhuman treatment. Poland is also a proud signatory to many international conventions, including the United Nations Convention against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights. Since 2004 Poland is also a member of the EU. Such close cooperation with the CIA and the giving away of a certain part of Polish territory in order to allow for torture may be a great contradiction of the universal values which Poland claims to share. Therefore it should be an effort of every stakeholder – politicians, prosecutors, judges, journalists as well as NGOs – to fully explain Poland's involvement in the CIA rendition programme and to hold accountable those responsible for abuses. It must happen despite even the highest political consequences.
Adam Bodnar is the head of the legal d i v is i o n a n d m e m b e r o f t h e Management Board of the Helsinki F o u n d a t i o n f o r Hu m a n R i g h t s , a leading Polish human rights NGO. He i s a l s o a l e c t u r e r a t t h e Wa r s a w U n iv e r s it y F a c ul t y o f L a w a n d Administration and a member of the visiting faculty of the Central European University in Budapest.
1 Priest, D., ‘CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons’, The Washington Post, 2 November 2005. 2 See statement by Mr. Robert Majewski, prosecutor leading the investigation, on 4 February 2009. He confirmed that 11 secret CIA flights (mostly by Gulfstreams) were made to the territory of Poland and airplanes landed in Szymany airport. His statement on secret flights was the first official statement by Polish authorities confirming the cooperation with CIA. Nevertheless, he underlined that it is not clear what the cargo of the CIA planes was, and whether detainees were transported with them. See also ‘CIA Planes Did Land in Poland But What Was Their Cargo?’, translation of an article published in Gazeta Wyborcza, 5 February 2009, available at <http://wyborcza.pl/1,86871,6238040,CIA_ Planes_Did_Land_in_Poland_But_What_Was_Their_C argo_.html>. 3 See Joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, A/HRC/13/42, 26 January 2010. 4 Marty, D., Alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers involving Council of Europe member states, doc. 10957, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights/Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, 7 June 2006, Marty, D., Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states: second report, doc. 11302 rev., Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights/Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, 11 June 2007. 5 See Report on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners, European Parliament, (2006/2200(INI)) A60020/2007. 6 Marszałek, A. and Majewski, M., ‘Amerykanie mieli tajną bazę na Mazurach’ [Americans had a secret base in Mazury lakes], available at <http://dziennik.pl/polityka/article233214/Amerykanie_mieli_tajna_baze_na_Ma zurach.html> (in Polish). 7 On 22 December 2009 the Parliamentary Commission of National Security and Defence in Lithuania published a report concerning results of the parliamentary investigation, which was subsequently adapted by the Lithuanian Seimas on 19 January 2010. The Commission found that at least two secret detention centres were created and that during 2002-2005 CIA chartered airplanes were repeatedly allowed to land in Lithuania. 8 Supra note 3, at p. 60.
Foundation of Human Rights of 3 March 2006, 7 August 2007, 27 June 2008 and 2 February 2010, available at <www.hfhr.org.pl/cia> (in Polish). 10 See <www.hfhr.org.pl/cia> (in Polish). 11 Supra note 2. 12 Supra note 4. 13 See following articles: Krzykowski, A. and Kowalewski, M., ‘Jak rząd i służby kamuflowali loty’ [How the Government and intelligence services made a flight camouflage], Rzeczpospolita daily, 15 April 2009; Zemla, E. and Kowalewski, M., ‘Polski wywiad w służbie CIA’ [Polish intelligence at the service of CIA], Rzeczpospolita daily, 15 April 2009; Zemla, E. and Kowalewski, M., ‘Szukając dokumentu o CIA’ [Seeking a document on CIA], Rzeczpospolita daily, 22 April 2009. Translations of those articles are available at <www.hfhr.org.pl/cia>. Journalists obtained detailed information on flights into the territory of Poland, types of ‘status’ awarded to flights in air traffic or the manner in which the planes were cleared. They also heard an anonymous witness, an intelligence officer, who, according to his statement, saw the handcuffed and blindfolded individuals escorted from the plane in Szymany. 14 E.g. Memorandum for John A. Rizzo, Senior Deputy General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency, 30 May 2005, includes a small passage concerning the use of a waterboarding interrogation technique with respect to Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. According to the Memorandum: ‘The CIA used the waterboard "at least 83 times during August 2002" in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.’ It is important to note that following analysis of flights and landings in Szymany airport Khalid Sheikh Mohammad could have been held in Poland in March 2003. Memorandum is available at <http://s3.amazonaws. com/propublica/assets/missing_memos/28OLCmem ofinalredact30May05.pdf>. Furthermore, in April 2009 an International Red Cross report was disclosed, (ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen ‘High Value Detainees’ in CIA Custody, February 2007, available at <http://www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf>), which includes statements by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad indicating Poland as a place of his detention. See also Danner, M., ‘US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites’, New York Review of Books, 9 April 2009, available at <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22530>.
9 E.g. letters to the Prime Minister by the Helsinki
On 14 December 2009, a one day international conference entitled War on Terror and Human Rights – In Search for Truth and Responsibility was held at the Warsaw University Law Faculty premises. The conference was organised by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) in Warsaw under the auspices of the Dean of the Law Faculty of Warsaw University. The aim of the conference was to analyse the situation in Poland with respect to allegations about the existence of secret CIA detention centres in the north of Poland (at Stare Kiejkuty) and the involvement of Poland in the CIA secret rendition programme. For further details on the conference please visit: <http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/13644.html>.