EU member states bear a share of moral responsibility for detentions in Guantanamo, the European Parliament has said. It accused 14 members of cooperating with the US in the kidnapping or transport of terror suspects. The European Parliament denounced members’ involvement in extraordinary renditions in a resolution approved with a 334-247 vote.
The resolution, which was welcomed by Amnesty International, comes two years after the parliament’s report on European complicity in illegal CIA renditions. Some Guantanamo Bay prisoners were kidnapped in EU member states by US authorities or flown over EU territory, making stopovers in Europe in some cases, said the parliament. According to the report, Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Britain, Italy, Macedonia, Germany and Turkey were “responsible at varying degrees … for violations of the rights of specific persons.” Germany has rejected the charge. Seven other EU states – Poland, Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Greece – were accused of “active or passive collusion.” In addition, Poland and Romania may have harboured CIA detention centres, according to a 2006 Council of Europe report.