Lithuania questions whether to approach US after ECHR ruling on CIA prison

Lithuania’s presidential foreign policy advisor Asta Skaisgirytė has questioned whether the country should automatically turn to the United States following the latest European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling on a secret CIA prison, reports LRT.

The ECHR last week ordered Lithuania to pay 30,000 euros in compensation to Saudi national Abd al-Rahim Hussein al-Nashiri for his unlawful detention in a secret US-run facility in Lithuania two decades ago. The court also required Lithuanian authorities to seek assurances from Washington that al-Nashiri, a suspected terrorist, would not face the death penalty.

“We should discuss this issue thoroughly before deciding whether to approach the US,” Skaisgirytė told Žinių Radijas on Tuesday. “I am not sure we should act automatically, as there are certain circumstances where I don’t see why we should influence US authorities on this matter.” She added that discussions on the issue had not yet taken place, so she would not rush to a conclusion.

Skaisgirytė confirmed that Lithuania would pay the compensation to al-Nashiri but acknowledged “certain moral questions” surrounding the ruling. Lithuanian officials have consistently denied the existence of a CIA prison in the country, despite multiple ECHR rulings to the contrary. Skaisgirytė noted that the court relies on the opinions of human rights organisations in its decisions.

She also expressed doubt about reopening investigations into the matter. “I don’t know if another investigation would bring more clarity to this situation. I highly doubt it,” she said.

The ECHR first ruled in 2018 that a secret CIA prison operated in Lithuania between 2005 and 2006, where another Saudi national, Abu Zubaydah, was detained. In January 2024, the court awarded 100,000 euros to Saudi citizen Mustafa al-Hawsawi for his unlawful detention.

Lithuania officially denies hosting a CIA prison, though a 2009 parliamentary investigation acknowledged that conditions existed for such a facility. Authorities maintain that the Antaviliai site near Vilnius was a logistics support centre, not a prison, and that suspicious flights carried communications equipment, not detainees. A 2014 US Senate report on secret CIA prisons, which did not name specific locations, referred to a facility codenamed “Violet” that human rights groups and the ECHR believe was in Lithuania. The report stated it operated from early 2005 until 2006, when local officials refused to admit al-Hawsawi to a hospital.