News
ECHR decision in the case of secret CIA prisons
According to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg from 24th July, 2014, Poland is obligated to pay 100,000 EUR of compensation to Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and 130,000 EUR of compensation to Abu Zubajda. Both men were imprisoned and tortured in the secret CIA prison in Stare Kiejkuty, Poland, in 2002 and 2003.
“The ECHR’s judgment is devastating for Poland, because it found that Poland not only violated its obligation to conduct an effective investigation, but also confirms the fact that Poland participated in a system of kidnapping and torture run by the CIA, and that Poland provided the CIA with help for kidnapping, illegal imprisonment and torturing people,” explains adv. Mikołaj Pietrzak.
The European Court of Human Rights found that the Polish Government had been cooperating with the CIA. People suspected of terrorist attacks had been interrogated in secret prisons in Poland. The ECHR came to the conclusion that Poland had violated seven rights guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights, pointing out the State’s failure to carry out an effective investigation (breach of Article 3), transfer of the applicant from the respondent State’s territory despite the existence of a real risk that he could be subjected to the death penalty (breach of Articles 2, 3 and 5) violation of the Applicant’s rights to a fair trial (Article 6) and the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8).
According to Americans, Al- Nashiri is guilty of the terrorist attack on the American Navy’s ship, the USS Cole, in 2000 in Yemen. He was detained in Dubai two years after the attack and transferred to an arrest facilities in Afghanistan and Thailand. Thereafter, he was imprisoned and tortured in Poland.
Abu Zubajda was detained in Pakistan in 2002 as “person no. 3” in Al-Qaeda and the closest associate of Osama bin Laden. He was imprisoned in Thailand, and in December 2002 he was transferred to Poland, where he was imprisoned and tortured.
[Ewa Siedlecka, Mecenas Al– Nashiriego: Trybunał powiedział wprost, że oni tu byli torturowani, www.wyborcza.pl, 24.07.2014]