[JURIST] Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) [official website] rapporteur Dick Marty [BBC profile] on Friday called on [press release] European countries to show accountability for their role in assisting the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] in using secret prisons [JURIST news archive]. The statement follows reports [ABC News report] that the CIA held high value terrorists in a secret prison in Lithuania. Marty called for all European countries to come forward regarding their involvement with the prisons. He also urged the Lithuanian government to conduct an independent investigation into the secret prisons.

The CIA's use of secret prisons has been a source of controversy for several years. Last month, lawyers for Ahmed Ghailani [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive] requested access [JURIST report] to the secret prison where Ahmed was held. This was in response to the CIA's announcement [JURIST report] in April that it planned to close them. Lithuania is the third European country to be identified as the home of a secret facility. Last year, Poland and Romania [JURIST report] were criticized for providing assistance to the CIA.