Lithuanian prez calls for CIA prison probe

VILNIUS, Lithuania, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite says reports of a secret U.S. prison for terror suspects in his country should be investigated.

A Council of Europe official told ABC News Grybauskaite called for the probe at a Tuesday press conference with the council's Human Rights Commission, during which he reportedly said a previous attempt look into the allegations by the Lithuanian Parliament was insufficient.

"If this is true," ABC quoted Grybauskaite as saying, "Lithuania has to clean up, accept responsibility, apologize and promise that it will never happen again."

The U.S. broadcaster had previously reported the CIA operated a secret prison in a residential section of Vilnius from September 2004 through November 2005, during which time it used the facility to detain and interrogate suspected al-Qaida prisoners captured around the world.

ABC said that as a result of its story, the Council of Europe reopened an investigation into Lithuanian involvement in the CIA program.

"We cannot place Lithuania in a position, for whatever interests, where it may become a target for international terrorists," Grybauskaite said. "Both Lithuania and the United States must provide answers to these questions."