Lithuanian MEP calls for new investigation into alleged CIA prison

Virginijus Sinkevičius, leader of Lithuania’s ruling Democratic Union “For Lithuania,” has called for a new investigation into the alleged existence of a secret CIA prison in the country, ELTA reports.

Speaking on the programme ELTA kampas, Sinkevičius argued that both the opposition and the ruling parties should agree on the scope of such an investigation. He stressed that unanswered questions about the facility undermine public trust in the state.

“I think an investigation is necessary. The question is whether it should be a parliamentary one, because parliamentary investigations often become political tools for settling scores. In this case, I believe there should be a discussion among all parliamentary parties—both ruling and opposition—to define the scope and specific questions. Right now, with only fragments of information available, the main questions remain unanswered, which is not good. It casts a shadow over the state and its processes, providing ground for conspiracy theorists and foreign propaganda to draw conclusions that may have nothing to do with reality,” Sinkevičius said.

The debate resurfaced after Lithuania lost another case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Earlier this month, the court ruled that Abdas Al Rahimas Husseinas Al Nashiri, a Saudi national suspected of terrorism in the Al Qaeda group, was unlawfully detained in a US-run prison in Lithuania between 2005 and 2006. The court awarded him €30,000 in compensation and ordered the Lithuanian government to seek assurances from US authorities that he would not face the death penalty.

This is the third case Lithuania has lost at the Strasbourg-based court over the alleged CIA prison. In 2018, the ECHR found that a secret CIA facility operated in Lithuania between 2005 and 2006, where Palestinian Abu Zubaydah was detained. In 2024, the court awarded €100,000 to Saudi national Mustafa al-Hawsawi for unlawful detention.

A parliamentary investigation in 2009 by the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee concluded that conditions for detaining people existed in Lithuania, but it could not prove that detainees were brought to or held in the country.

Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys last week stated that Lithuania must investigate the allegations, while the President’s Office has questioned the need for another probe. Gitanas Nausėda’s chief advisor, Asta Skaisgirytė, previously argued that an additional investigation would not bring more clarity.