On 7 August 2007 the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights addressed to the Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski an open letter regarding the issue of serious allegations made against Poland concerning its involvement in a network of secret CIA prisons in Europe. The Foundation is deeply concerned by the Polish government´s inappropriate position towards that problem. (08-AUG-07)


                                                                 OPEN LETTER


Warsaw, 7 August 2007
 
Mr. Jaroslaw Kaczynski
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland

Dear Prime Minister:

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is deeply astonished and appalled by the Polish government´s inappropriate position towards serious allegations made against Poland concerning its involvement in a network of secret CIA prisons in Europe. This issue has once again been detailed by Jane Mayer, a journalist for “The New Yorker” in her article “The Black Sites.” According to Ms. Mayer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an important leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, was held and interrogated in Poland with the use of extremely brutal methods.
The position of the Polish government on an issue that is outraging the international public opinion is particularly deplorable given that the likelihood of the existence of secret CIA prisons in Poland at the intelligence training facility in Stare Kiejkuty was confirmed by the second report by Senator Dick Marty, “Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states,” adopted by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on 11 June 2007.

The European Parliament has also dealt with the issue of the illegal detention and transfer of detainees in the same context. On 14 February 2007, it adopted a resolution (No. INI/2006/2200) condemning a number of European states, including Poland, for tolerating illegal CIA activity in Europe.

The report of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly expressly states that secret CIA prisons existed in Europe in 2002-2005, in particular in Poland and Romania. These prisons were reportedly run exclusively by American intelligence personnel, but with local authorities providing logistics and security support. All this allegedly took place with the consent of state authorities at the highest level.

The Report of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly alleges that the Polish government took steps to conceal the truth about the functioning of the secret prisons and asserts that the Polish government did not demonstrate the will to cooperate with Council of Europe bodies during investigative proceedings. The resolution of the European Parliament also emphasizes the Polish government´s contempt toward cooperation with the European Parliament in its efforts to investigate the secret prisons, as evidenced, inter alia, by the improper reception by Polish authorities of ad-hoc committee members during their visit to Poland. In its letter of 3 March 2006, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights appealed to the then Prime Minister of Poland, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, to provide the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe all the requested and pertinent information and to assure active participation by the Polish government in explaining the allegations of illegal detention of individuals suspected of terrorist activity. Unfortunately, as indicated in Senator Dick Marty´s report, many of the questions submitted to the Government of the Republic of Poland remain unanswered. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights regretfully notes the Polish authorities´ persistently evident lack of will to provide a complete explanation of the issue of CIA secret prisons.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights shares the opinion of Senator Dick Marty that the politicians of European states should not act as the defenders of particular governments, but as the defenders of common European values. This is also why we consider a complete explanation of the issues surrounding the secret CIA prisons in Poland to be the duty of the Polish government to its citizens and to all Europeans. It is unacceptable for Poland to ignore – without its own investigation – allegations that cast doubt on Poland´s and other countries´ observance of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Along with Amnesty International, we request you, Mr. Prime Minister, to instruct an investigation to be conducted in order to verify the allegations contained in the reports of the Council of Europe and European Parliament as well as to clarify all aspects of this appalling matter. We feel the results of the investigation should be made open to the general public.

Kind regards,

On behalf of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights,

Marek Antoni Nowicki
President of the Board

cc:

1. Mr. Lech Kaczynski – President of the Republic of Poland,
2. Mr. Ludwik Dorn – Speaker of the Polish Sejm [Lower House],
3. Mr. Bogdan Borusewicz – Speaker of the Senate,
4. Mr. Janusz Kaczmarek – Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration,
5. Mr. Zbigniew Ziobro – Minister of Justice,
6. Mr. Janusz Kochanowski – Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection,
7. Mr. Cezary Grabarczyk – Chairman of the Sejm [Lower House] Commission for Justice and Human Rights,
8. Mr. Pawel Gras – Chairman of the Sejm [Lower House] Commission for Secret Service Issues,
9. Mr. Hans-Gert Pöttering – President of the European Parliament,
10. Mr. Rene van den Linden – President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly,
11. Mr. Terry Davies – Secretary-General of the Council of Europe,
12. Mr. Thomas Hammarberg – Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.