Lithuania pledges to implement ECHR ruling on alleged CIA prison

Lithuania will fully comply with the latest European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling concerning an alleged secret CIA prison in the country, though officials continue to deny its existence, LRT reports, citing the Justice Ministry.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius has stated there is no need for additional investigations into the matter.

“Lithuania will implement the ECHR ruling in full,” Božena Zaborovska-Zdanovič, the Justice Ministry’s press representative, told BNS. The ECHR last week awarded €30,000 in damages to Saudi national Abd al-Rahim Hussain al-Nashiri for his unlawful detention in a CIA prison in Lithuania and ordered authorities to seek assurances from Washington that he will not face the death penalty.

President Gitanas Nausėda previously told BNS that court rulings must be enforced but noted that requesting assurances from the US could be seen as interference in internal American affairs. Zaborovska-Zdanovič confirmed that Lithuania will approach the US through “diplomatic channels” but provided no further details. She added that the ECHR ruling will not be appealed to the Grand Chamber and will take effect in a few months, with implementation to follow.

Meanwhile, Sinkevičius said on Tuesday that he sees no need for further clarification of the circumstances surrounding the alleged CIA prison, which may have operated in Lithuania two decades ago. “A parliamentary investigation has already been conducted in Lithuania. Additionally, law enforcement is carrying out a pre-trial investigation coordinated by the Prosecutor General’s Office. The prime minister does not see a need for additional actions,” his press representative, Gedas Salyga, told BNS.

Nausėda has also stated that he does not see a need for further investigation into the alleged prison.

A parliamentary inquiry in 2009 by the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee concluded that there was no evidence that CIA detainees had been brought to Lithuania, though it acknowledged that conditions for such a facility had existed.

The Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed on Tuesday that it is continuing a pre-trial investigation launched in 2010 and renewed in 2015 into the alleged CIA prison. However, it noted that no significant data has been received from the US or other partners to whom legal assistance requests were sent.

Last week’s ECHR ruling was the third of its kind in cases against Lithuania. While the ECHR has repeatedly concluded that such a prison operated in Lithuania, state representatives consistently argue that the court relies on the opinions of human rights organisations and their investigations, not official institutions.

Following an earlier unfavourable ECHR ruling on the prison, the Justice Ministry commented that, with a pre-trial investigation ongoing, Lithuania cannot objectively refute the conclusion that a prison existed with evidence or data.

The ECHR first made this finding in 2018, stating that a secret CIA prison had operated in Lithuania between 2005 and 2006, where Saudi national Abu Zubaydah was detained. In January 2024, the ECHR awarded €100,000 in damages to another Saudi national, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, for unlawful detention.

In its submissions to the ECHR, Lithuania argued that the facilities in Antaviliai, near Vilnius, were not a prison but a support centre for intelligence activities. The country claims that the suspicious flights to Lithuania carried communications equipment, not people.