Poland pays out damages to alleged terrorists
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
14.05.2015 11:20
Poland is in the process of paying damages to two alleged terrorists who claim to have been tortured at a CIA-run prison in Poland from 2002 to 2003.
Photo: Glowimages
Saudi Arabian citizens Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, who are still being held at the US's Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, won a case against Poland at the European Court of Human Rights in July 2014.
Poland's subsequent appeal was rejected, and the Polish government has until 16 May to carry out the payments, which amount to over EUR 100,000 for each claimant.
According to Radio ZET, “the Foreign Ministry has already applied to the Ministry of Finance to access the special reserve [funds].”
After a US Senate report was published in December 2014, indicating that a CIA black site had existed on Polish soil, former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who served from 1995 to 2005) said that Poland had indeed agreed to find “a quiet location” for the CIA.
However, the current Polish government has not officially confirmed that such a site existed, while a long-running official investigation into the matter continues.
Kwaśniewski said in December 2014 that “the war on terror was a new event, and we weren’t prepared for it.”
Meanwhile, America has yet to compete proceedings afainst the two Saudis for allegedly masterminding terrorist attacks are pending. (nh)