This week’s Council of Europe interim report on CIA activities on member states’ territory found “a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of relocations and outsourcing of torture”.

Presenting the report to the Council of Europe (COE) parliamentary assembly on Tuesday, Swiss senator Dick Marty, spearheading the COE’s investigation into member States’ complicity in the CIA’s practice of extraordinary rendition, commented, “It has been proved, and never denied, that individuals have been abducted, deprived of their liberty and transported in Europe, to be handed over to countries in which they have suffered torture.”

The report, however, has been criticised for its lack of sufficient irrefutable evidence – primarily because a detailed analysis of European flight logs has not yet been carried out as the COE is still to receive feedback from member States, including Malta, on its questions dealing with CIA activities on their soil. Member states have a deadline of 21 February to give their replies.

As such, the report concentrated mainly on what it describes as the more detailed cases of Italy and Switzerland and on member States’ independent investigations into the use of their airspace and soil for extraordinary rendition. The Maltese government has still to make public whether it is investigating reports by this newspaper that planes used for the controversial practice of extraordinary rendition have landed at Malta International Airport on many occasions.

Mr Marty’s investigations will continue with an analysis of detailed flight and satellite records. Mr Marty received flight logs and information from Europe’s air traffic agency Eurocontrol and the EU's Satellite Agency on Monday but has so far been unable to comment on their contents, pending further analysis.

Having attended Tuesday’s Assembly, Malta Labour Party foreign affairs spokesperson and COE legal affairs and human rights committee member Leo Brincat explained, “The rapporteur is a bit handicapped for the time being as questions asked to the member State governments are not yet in hand. Mr Marty’s investigation is currently at the mercy of the member States. Once the assembly is reconvened in April, Marty should have all the facts in hand.

“It is, however, important that one distinguishes that the investigations do not aim to censure the activities of the United States, which falls outside the remit of the Council of Europe, but to determine whether member States have breached their human rights obligations.”

Mr Brincat said as a COE legal affairs and human rights committee member, he is in the dark as to whether the leader of the Maltese delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, has tabled the Maltese government’s report or if it has responded to the questions.

Asked how the Labour Party is following the issue, Mr Brincat added, “At the moment we are basing our opinions on the facts in hand and what we have at the moment are allegations. Once the replies from the governments are in hand, we will be able to take stock of the situation.”

Following the report’s presentation, European Commission vice-president Franco Frattini, who has threatened punitive action against EU members found complicit in the practice, called on member States to promptly clarify their positions.

“We have to take note of the serious interim conclusion that ‘it is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware’,” he urged. “In this context the vice-president firmly calls on EU member States to cooperate fully with investigations as promptly and comprehensively as possible.”

Amnesty International reconfirms Malta stopovers

While this week’s interim report falls short of naming several implicated States until analyses of flight and satellite records are carried out, Amnesty International (AI) this week released partial findings of its own investigation. AI reports it has found more than 800 flights by planes linked to the practice of extraordinary rendition in and out of Europe, including Malta, and the Commonwealth of Independent States between September 2001 and September 2005.

Such planes have landed in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.

The Malta Independent on Sunday has reported a total of eight stopovers at Malta International Airport by seven different aircraft implicated in the practice of rendition. The reasons for the stopovers, all carried out between 2003 and 2005, are still unknown.

AI recommended that, “Pending the outcome of the Council of Europe's investigations, the operators of all 31 planes identified by Mr Marty should be forced to provide detailed information every time they land at an airport in Europe or enter European airspace. This would include, at minimum, the full flight plan of the aircraft, including onward stops from Europe and full itinerary since leaving the US, and the full names and nationalities of all passengers on board, and the purposes of their travel.

“If any passengers are listed as prisoners or detainees, more detailed information would have to be provided. European governments should refuse access to airspace and airfields if such information is not forthcoming.”