CIA prisoners passed through Poland

(B2) The contribution of certain European states to the policy of secret detention of the CIA of prisoners during the war of Afghanistan seems more and more perceptible and proven. After the revelations of New York Review and Washington Post, citing an ICRC report showing that prisoners detained by the CIA were indeed victims of torture (*) - and the confirmation of the new Obama administration of such procedures -, an in-depth investigation by the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita (read here) and the TVP INFO channel, reminds us that these facts have not spared Europe, Poland in particular. Supporting documents, our colleagues show that a secret base of the CIA would have worked well, for several months, in 2003, on the site of the former military airport of Szymany (north of Warsaw, in Masuria). From February to September 2003, Boeing 737 and Gulfstream planes belonging to private companies (LLC, Weather, Steven express...), which flew on behalf of the CIA, landed there (see document below).

The confidential documents consulted by the journalists reveal many anomalies. Thus these flights are indicated as destination Warsaw whereas they had Szymany as destination. Although operated by a private company, they are listed on Eurocontrol logs and airport logbooks as government aircraft. The processing of flights is done as for military aircraft; there is no data to identify the passengers carried, such as the indication of their passport. Etc. (download the flight list - Eurocontrol). Other revelations from our colleagues: An eyewitness would have seen prisoners in handcuffs leaving a plane. And, within this framework, about fifteen Polish intelligence officers would have worked for the CIA in the Middle East.

Four European countries concerned. The map reconstructed by our Polish colleagues shows that the flights departing from Kabul or Tashkent concerned four European countries: Poland (Warsaw - Szymany), the Czech Republic (Prague), the United Kingdom (Glasgow) and Portugal (Porto) for destination Washington, let us also mention (which does not appear on the map) stopovers at the American base in Frankfurt (Germany).

Scrambled investigations. An investigation by the State Attorney General was launched in 2008 (previous attempts at investigation had been stopped). It comes up against state secrecy. Some journalists believe that the political leaders of the era (ex-communists)
who collaborated with the American authorities, in particular the Prime Minister and President of the Republic, Leszek Miller and Aleksander Kwasniewski. Their investigation proves, in fact, that the government (Minister of Defense in particular) was kept informed of certain thefts.

(*) the methods of the CIA - sleep deprivation, simulation of death by suffocation, blows to the face... - are assimilated, according to this report, to the use of prohibited torture. To be exact, it was Marc Danner who obtained a copy of this report and revealed its contents in the New York Review. Download the ICRC report

(NGV)