Lithuania's Office of Intelligence Ombudspersons will not launch an investigation into the alleged CIA secret prison that may have operated in the country two decades ago, the watchdog said in a statement to BNS.
"The intelligence ombudspersons consider that there are currently no newly emerged significant factual circumstances that would provide grounds for initiating an investigation," Justas Gaidys, senior adviser at the office, said in a comment to BNS.
Gaudys said the decision not to investigate was based primarily on the fact that the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence (NSGK) had already carried out an inquiry into the alleged prison more than a decade ago on the instruction of the Seimas.
He also noted that the Prosecutor General's Office is continuing a reopened pre-trial investigation and that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has already delivered three judgments concerning the detention of individuals at alleged CIA facilities in Lithuania.
"Recognising that this issue remains significant to the public, the Ombudsperson plans to initiate an inter-agency dialogue with the competent Lithuanian authorities," Gaidys said.
"The aim of this dialogue will be to assess the possibilities of obtaining new information, determine whether any additional action falls within the ombudspersons' remit, and build a comprehensive understanding of the situation," he added.
Debate over the alleged CIA prison resurfaced after Lithuania lost its third case before the ECHR in July.
The Strasbourg court awarded 30,000 euros to Saudi Arabian national Abd Al Rahim Hussein Al-Nashiri over his unlawful detention at a secret CIA prison in Lithuania.
The court also ordered the Lithuanian authorities to seek assurances from Washington that the terrorism suspect would not face the death penalty.
Allegations that the CIA operated a secret detention facility in Lithuania first emerged in 2009, when US broadcaster ABC News reported that eight terrorism suspects had been held near Vilnius between 2004 and 2005.
Later that year, the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defence (NSGK) concluded that it could not establish whether detainees had been transferred to Lithuania, but found that the conditions for such transfers had existed.
Earlier this year, the Prosecutor General's Office confirmed that it is continuing its investigation into the alleged unlawful transportation of people across Lithuania's state border.
New probe should be led by inter-agency commission – minister
Lithuania's Justice Minister Rita Tamašunienė said later on Wednesday the country stood by its position that there was no CIA prison.
Any further probe should be handled by an inter-agency commission, she added.
"An inter-agency commission should investigate, if we were to form one. [...] We need to decide who actually has the competence to investigate and present arguments in a way that leaves no doubt in the future," Tamašunienė told reporters on Wednesday.
The minister said such a commission would ensure the issue was not politicised or perceived as an attempt to conceal information.
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