BRUSSELS, April 26 (UPI) -- The CIA has carried out more than 1,000 clandestine flights over European territory since 2001, a European Parliament interim report has found.
A parliamentary committee investigating CIA activities in Europe reported Wednesday that European governments were aware of the flights, the EU Observer reported.
"The CIA has, on several occasions, clearly been responsible for kidnapping and illegally detaining alleged terrorists on the territory of member states, as well as for extraordinary renditions," said Claudio Fava, a Socialist Member of the European Parliament.
The report says the United States probably violated the so-called Chicago Convention on flight transport when the CIA used European airports for police and intelligence operations without notifying the national air authorities. Investigators found the CIA leased private planes to exploit a legal loophole that allows private aircraft to land at foreign airports without having to inform local authorities, as government and military planes are required to.
Fava said it was highly unlikely that EU governments and authorities were unaware of the CIA prison flights, the Observer reported.
Italy, Sweden and Bosnia-Herzegovina were reported to have condoned CIA kidnapping, detaining and imprisoning terrorist suspects on their territory.
