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Investigation finds Lithuania had secret CIA jails - Europe - crime - security - terrorism - Lithuania - CIA

Investigation finds Lithuania had secret CIA jails

VILNIUS (Reuters) - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ran a secret prison in Lithuania where al Qaeda suspects may have been held, a parliamentary probe in the Baltic state found on Tuesday.

Reuters | Published: 12/23/2009 02:22

The head of Lithuania's domestic intelligence agency has already resigned as speculation about secret jails has intensified.

U.S. broadcaster ABC News reported in August that Lithuania was the third European country, after Poland and Romania, believed to host secret CIA jails

Some CIA staff are reported to have said the use of overseas detention centres was designed to circumvent U.S. law.

Arvydas Anusauskas, the head of parliament's national security and defense committee, said the investigation found Lithuanian intelligence opened two detention centres in cooperation with the CIA.

"There were facilities, there were possibilities, there were (CIA) planes, though we can't know what was on board ... Therefore such a possibility exists," he said, when asked whether any CIA detainees were held in Lithuania.

Top officials were not informed about the jails, and there was no political approval, he said.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said it was "a matter of great concern" that such infrastructure existed and that it could be possible to detain suspected terrorists without government control.

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