[JURIST] Dick Marty [JURIST news archive], the Swiss parliamentarian who has been leading the Council of Europe [official website] probe into CIA terror secret prisons and renditions in Europe [JURIST report], announced Tuesday that he intends to accompany UN Special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak [JURIST news archive] in a visit to the US prison at Guantanamo Bay. In a joint statement [text], COE Assembly President Rene van der Linden [official profile] and Marty reaffirmed the Council's determination to uncover the role [JURIST report] played by European countries in aiding and abetting abuses committed by the CIA, saying "Putting the whole truth on the table is important as a matter of principle, and in order to deter future violations". Both men said they believed the US will OK the visit, although an attempt by Nowak and other UN rights envoys to visit Guantanamo last year was stymied when the Pentagon refused free access to prisoners [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

Last month, President Bush admitted the US had maintained secret CIA-run detention centers [JURIST report] throughout Europe, as Marty and his committee had maintained. Fourteen high value terror suspects [DNI backgrounder, PDF] held there, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have now been shifted to Guantanamo.