EU calls for internal probe on renditions

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STRASBOURG, France, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Members of the European Union were called on, in a non-binding resolution, to investigate alleged CIA rendition sites in Eastern European countries.

The European Parliament voted to investigate whether the CIA had secret detention facilities in the region. The resolution states that Lithuania, Poland and Romania were called on in particular to encourage or open independent investigations.

The Guardian newspaper in London, at the height of the WikiLeaks controversy last year, reported that two secret CIA prisons were uncovered in Lithuania. The Council of Europe blames 14 other countries for playing a role in the rendition program.

Amnesty International, had blasted the European Union for not acting against member states over alleged roles in the secret rendition and detention program spearheaded by the CIA.

The European Parliament listed a lack of transparency, prevalence of overriding political interests and poor cooperation among the obstacles to investigations by some member states into the controversial CIA program.

Helene Flautre, a French lawmaker in the European Parliament who wrote a report on renditions, described the resolution as a victory for democratic principles in the European Union.

"The report supports the existence of a vast, secret and illegal system that led to acts of torture and forced disappearances," she said in a statement.