Doc. 11302 Report 14. In Italy, the trial of the kidnappers of Abu Omar runs into obstacles due to considerations of state secrecy. The Assembly is deeply perturbed by the proceedings brought recently against the Milan public prosecutors themselves for breach of state secrecy. It regards such proceedings as intolerable impediments to the independence of justice. 15. In Germany, the work of the Bundestag Commission of Inquiry is proceeding energetically. But the prosecutorial authorities, engaged in the hunt for the kidnappers of Khaled El-Masri, still meet with lack of cooperation on the part of the American and Macedonian authorities. Khaled El-Masri still awaits the rehabilitation and redress of damages owed to him, in the same way as Maher Arar, the victim in a comparable case in Canada. 16. The Assembly solemnly restates its position that terrorism can and must be combated by methods consistent with human rights and rule of law. This position of principle, founded on the values upheld by the Council of Europe, is also the one that best guarantees the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism in the long term. 17. The Assembly therefore calls upon: 17.1. the parliaments and judicial authorities of all Council of Europe member states to: 17.1.1. elucidate fully, by reducing to a reasonable minimum the restrictions of transparency founded on concepts of state secrecy and national security, the secret services’ wrongful acts committed on their territory with regard to secret detentions and unlawful transfers of detainees; and 17.1.2. ensure that the victims of such unlawful acts are fittingly rehabilitated and compensated; 17.2. the media to fully perform their role as champions of transparency, truth, tolerance and of human rights and dignity; and 17.3. the competent authorities of all member states to implement the other proposals embodied in its Resolution 1507 (2006). 18. Finally, the Assembly reaffirms the importance of setting up within it a genuine European parliamentary inquiry mechanism. 4