Euro-MPs urge Lithuania to continue CIA jail probe

(VILNIUS) - European parliamentarians urged Lithuania Friday to continue a probe into an alleged CIA prison on its soil, said to have hosted a secret US jail for Al-Qaeda suspects.

"Many questions remain open in Lithuania," said Helene Flautre, a member of a European Parliament delegation on the last day of a three-day visit to the Baltic state which joined NATO and the EU in 2004.

In December 2009, a Lithuanian parliamentary probe identified two alleged CIA "black sites" which US media reports said were used in 2003-2006.

But it noted that despite records showing two CIA-linked flights landing in Vilnius in 2003 and 2005, and three in Palanga, western Lithuania, in 2005 and 2006, it was impossible to say whether detainees had been brought in.

"We are asking about what the prosecutors said -- that they had evidence that no one had been held in prison in Lithuania," Flautre told reporters.

"That puzzled us a lot because it's very different from the conclusion of the parliament," she said, adding the delegation would ask the prosecutors for more information.

The situation concerning the alleged CIA flights "has not been cleared up to date. We don't know the exact flight plans, who was on board, how they could possibly be taken here and when," she added.

"That leads us to investigate in Lithuania but also in other European countries," Flautre added.

On Thursday, the delegation visited the purported CIA "black site" in Antaviliai, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the capital Vilnius.

Lithuanian authorities have said they are ready to start new investigations if new information appeared but warned the US side refused to disclose key facts in the case.