Secret CIA detention facility "based in Romania"

Thomas Hammarberg, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, stated that a secret detention facility was opened near Bucharest on September 2003, immediately after a similar facility was closed in Poland.

In a press release issued on Monday the European official stated that that the operations of the American agency continued in Romania for more than two years and that at least one "high-value detainee" was transferred to such a secret detention facility.

Thomas Hammarberg added that the only official response from Bucharest had been denial, supported by a Senate Committee that rejected all allegations.

Former PNL senator Norica Nicolai, who coordinated the parliamentary investigation in the American secret prison scandal, stated that the new data regarding the CIA flights "are rather unclear and totally irrelevant".

According to Mediafax, Norica Nicolai stated that the parliamentary investigation completely ruled out the possibility of such detention facilities being established in Romania, but not the possibility of detainee transfers being made.

Norica Nicolai explained that as far as the international conventions were concerned, "Romania has never been given the possibility to go inside American aircrafts and analyse them".


Translated by: Raluca Mizdrea
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University