European Parliament finds member states complicit in CIA renditions News
European Parliament finds member states complicit in CIA renditions

[JURIST] The European Parliament adopted an interim report [press release] Thursday that agrees with earlier findings by the Council of Europe (COE) that European states were complicit in alleged incidents of CIA extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive]. The report [EP materials] criticizes European nations for failing to act or complying with CIA efforts to illegally seize terror suspects on European territory, as well as the alleged rendition of European nationals. The European Parliament report also accuses the CIA of being directly responsible for the "illegal seizure, removal, abduction and detention of terrorist suspects on the territory of Member States, accession and candidate countries," violating fundamental rights protected by international law.

In June, the COE formally endorsed [JURIST report] the report of Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty concluding that 14 European countries collaborated with the CIA [JURIST report; PDF text report] by taking an active or passive role in a network of prisons and rendition flights. Both the COE and the European Parliament reports endorse the drafting of new laws governing how European nations should monitor airspace and flights for possible rendition activity. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Stalin born

On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.