PARIS, Dec 13: The CIA appears to have abducted suspects in Europe and illegally transferred them to other countries, according to the preliminary results of a Council of Europe investigation released on Tuesday.

“Legal proceedings under way in certain countries appear to show that individuals were abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal assistance procedures,” the Swiss senator who leads the inquiry, Dick Marty, said as he presented his findings to date.

The rapporteur’s comments, made at a meeting of the Council of Europe’s human rights committee, were released in an official statement from the 46-member rights and democracy watchdog.

Marty said the results of his investigation added weight to reports that the CIA flew terror suspects to and from secret prisons in Europe, and called for European governments to fully investigate the claims.

“The elements we have gathered so far tend to reinforce the credibility of the allegations concerning the transport and temporary detention of detainees — outside all judicial procedure — in European countries,” he said.

The rapporteur “demands immediately that all member governments fully commit to uncovering the truth about flights and overflights on their territory in recent years, by aircraft transporting people arrested and detained outside of any legal procedure”, the statement said.—AFP