![\"Plane\"](\"http:\/\/www.access-info.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Plane.jpg\")
Vilnius, 29 September –<\/em> Legal action charity Reprieve<\/a> is demanding that Lithuanian authorities revive their failed inquiry into CIA \u2018black sites\u2019 after a Freedom of Information request \u2013 made in conjunction with Access Info Europe \u2013 uncovered a mysterious flight into the country\u2019s capital during the relevant period. The flight, which was either not noticed or not revealed by Lithuania\u2019s two official inquiries into local rendition complicity, demonstrates the inadequacy of previous attempts to get to the bottom of damaging allegations that have been gathering pace over the last two years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In response to an investigation by ABC News in 2009, a Lithuanian Parliamentary inquiry admitted that, on 18 February 2005, American private jet N787WH had landed briefly in Lithuania en route from Romania. Reprieve and other independent investigators had previously accused both Romania and Lithuania of hosting secret CIA prisons, where alleged terrorists were held incommunicado before transportation to Guantanamo Bay.<\/p>\n
Reprieve can now reveal that, only a few hours earlier, a second jet \u2013 bizarrely overlooked by the Lithuanian inquiry \u2013 flew in to Vilnius International Airport from another known secret prison site: Morocco.<\/p>\n
Information received from the Lithuanian Civil Aviation Authority, in response to Reprieve\u2019s and Access Info Europe\u2019s latest FOI request, shows a suspicious aircraft \u2013 identified as N724CL \u2013 arriving in Vilnius on 17 February 2005 at 18:03 and leaving at 19:31. The plane departed for Iceland and from there returned to the USA. It had flown into Vilnius after a brief stop in Jordan. Further confidential documents held by Reprieve show that it entered Jordan from Morocco, and that previously it had touched down in the Azores and the Canary Islands.<\/p>\n
Crofton Black (Investigator, Reprieve) said: \u201cLithuania has held two inquiries over the last two years. Far from getting to the bottom of these damaging allegations, they haven\u2019t even managed to find out which planes entered and left their country. It\u2019s only a matter of time before more such information emerges: the government should finally face up to it and take their responsibilities seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lydia Medland (Research and Campaigns Coordinator, Access Info Europe) said: \u201cLithuania has taken a step in the right direction by recognising the right of access to information and releasing flight data under Freedom of Information legislation. Information which relates to the violation of fundamental human rights should never be withheld from the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
A copy of the Freedom of Information disclosure received from Lithuania can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n Notes to the editors and background information can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n For more information contact:<\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong>Crofton Black<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Reprieve<\/span><\/p>\n London<\/span><\/p>\n +44 207 427 1088<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong>Lydia Medland<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n