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In their response, the Lithuanian authorities refer in particular to legal
obstacles to increasing the duration of out-of-cell education for juvenile remand
prisoners. In order to improve the situation, a working group had been set up at local
level with the task of preparing an education plan for approval by the Minister of
Education and Science.
39. As regards the alleged existence some years ago on Lithuanian territory of
secret detention facilities operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the
United States of America, the CPT’s delegation visited the two facilities (Projects
Nos. 1 and 2) that had been identified in the report on this matter drawn up by the
National Security and Defence Committee of the Lithuanian Parliament. When seen
by the delegation, the premises concerned did not contain anything that was highly
suggestive of a context of detention; at the same time, both of the facilities could be
adapted for detention purposes with relatively little effort.
The central issue for the CPT’s delegation was the effectiveness of the pre-trial
investigation into this matter that had been launched on 22 January 2010. During
discussions with members of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the delegation
questioned the limited scope of the investigation, which related to a possible abuse
of official position and did not expressly cover the possible unlawful detention of
persons (and their possible ill-treatment) on Lithuanian territory. The delegation
also sought to ascertain the precise steps that had been taken as from the opening of
the investigation. However, the delegation was not provided with the specific
information it requested, on the grounds that the major part of the data gathered
during the investigation constituted a State or service secret. The CPT concluded in
its report that given the paucity of the information available, it remained an open
question whether the pre-trial investigation met the criterion of thoroughness.
In their response, the Lithuanian authorities reiterate that most data received
during the pre-trial investigation are classified as a State or official secret and can
therefore not be rendered public. They indicate that “the arrival and departure of
U.S. CIA-related aircraft to/from Lithuania was established”, but that there was no
evidence of illegal transportation of any persons by those aircraft. Further, while
stating that the real purpose of the premises of Projects Nos. 1 and 2, which were
jointly set up by the State Security Department of Lithuania and the CIA, cannot be
disclosed as it constitutes a State secret, the Lithuanian authorities affirm that no
evidence has been found of any detention or abuse of a person on the premises
concerned. For that reason, all related pre-trial investigations had been discontinued.
Report and response published in May 2011, CPT/Inf (2011) 17 and CPT/Inf (2011) 18
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