Doc. 11302 Report 284. At the end of his own ordeal, Mr El-Masri was not shot in the back but instead confronted by police guards at a checkpoint on what appeared to be the border between “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Albania. From there he was driven for about six hours to Tirana, Albania’s capital city, and sent home to Germany on a commercial flight from Mother Theresa Airport to Frankfurt. He received a boarding card for this final flight and an Albanian exit stamp in his passport for 29 May 2004. 285. There have been other new developments concerning, in particular, the activities of the prosecutor’s office in Munich, the proceedings in the German Bundestag’s Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (Untersuchungsausschuss/UA), Mr El-Masri’s civil lawsuit against the CIA before United States courts, and, last but not least, his personal situation. 286. The case against Mr El-Masri’s kidnappers before the Munich prosecutor’s office is still pending. Upon the initiative of the prosecutor, international arrest warrants were launched against 13 suspected CIA agents in January 2007.232The Bavarian judicial authorities did not in any way interfere with the launch of these arrest warrants, but no progress has as yet been made in apprehending the persons concerned or even identifying them by their actual names. 287. In Germany – in contrast to Italy – it is not possible to try suspects in absentia. In reply to a formal request for judicial co-operation addressed to the Macedonian authorities in early 2006, the prosecutors were given only the “official version” of the events as already publicly stated by the authorities.233 288. Nor has any progress been made in identifying “Sam”, the German-speaking agent who, it is claimed, accompanied Mr El-Masri home from Afghanistan.234It was revealed recently235that then Interior Minister Schily was personally present in Kabul at the time when “Sam” announced to Mr El-Masri that he would soon be repatriated. But the prosecutor sees no link between Mr Schily’s presence and the allegations made by Mr El-Masri himself that “Sam” was in fact a German federal agent. 289. It has been revealed that the telephones of Mr El-Masri’s lawyer, Mr Gnjidic, were tapped from January until May 2006 on the instructions of the prosecutor’s office. At the time, there were also long conversations between Mr Gnjidic and my collaborator as part of the mandate given to me by the Parliamentary Assembly. The prosecutor in charge236informed me that the reason for the wire-tap, which was court-approved as provided for by law,237was to document any possible attempts made by the suspected kidnappers to contact Mr Gnjidic with a view to offering Mr El-Masri a settlement. As no such contacts were made, however, the wire-tap was terminated. Mr Gnjidic, who had not been informed of this wire-tap in advance, appealed against the decision authorising the surveillance. Its extension beyond March was found unlawful on appeal, but the legality of the initial wire-tap was upheld. Mr Gnjidic then lodged a constitutional complaint (Verfassungsbeschwerde) against the authorisation of the initial wire-tap before the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). In submissions to this court,238the Federal Ministry of the Interior commented that it found the wire-tap justified. On 17 May 2007, the Federal Constitutional Court held that the wire-tap had violated Mr Gnjidic’s constitutionally protected right to privacy. 290. Whilst the Bundestag’s Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (UA) has not yet completed its work, it is now undisputed in this body that Mr El-Masri’s account of his ordeal is true.239This means that there is no longer any doubt that the Macedonian authorities’ official version is inaccurate.240This confirms our belief that the latter consciously concealed the truth. 231. See, for example, BBC News, “Guantánamo refugee rues asylum deal”, 18 May 2007, available at http:// news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6668167.stm. The nationalities of the eight men in Albania are listed as an Algerian, an Egyptian, an Uzbek and the five Uighurs. 232. In its press release of 31 January 2007, the prosecutor’s office acknowledged having received additional information from the Milan prosecutor’s office and from the Council of Europe’s rapporteur, Dick Marty. 233. See Marty report 2006, supra note 6, p. 27, paragraphs 106-111. 234. See Marty report 2006, supra note 6, p. 26, paragraphs 99-100, p. 27, paragraph 103, p. 32, paragraph 130. 235. See N-TV, 23 November 2006. 236. Mr Martin Hofmann, whom I met in December 2006 in Geneva. I should like to thank Mr Hofmann for his kind cooperation. 237. A prolongation of the wire-tap was subsequently refused by the competent judge. 238. On file with the inquiry. 239. According to Max Stadler, Liberal member of the Bundestag’s Committee of Inquiry and the Parlamentarisches Kontollgremium (PKG) who spoke with a member of our team on 25 May. This is the opinion of all members, including those from the party currently in power. 240. Mr Stadler, supra note 239, indicates that this is also the view of the Committee of Inquiry, which does not, however, believe that its terms of reference allow it to record this officially. 56