Poland Seeking to Block Investigation into CIA Prison

Poland investigates newspaper in leak on CIA issue

June 9, 2011 - Polish prosecutors are investigating a newspaper for leaking state secrets from a probe into an alleged CIA prison that operated in Poland about eight years ago, an official said Friday.

The Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported Monday that a prosecutor who was recently removed from a three-year investigation into the CIA site had planned to bring criminal charges against Polish politicians who were in power when the now-shuttered site operated.

Adam Borzyszkowski, a prosecutor in Gdansk, said his office would question the reporter and editors at the newspaper due to "state secrets being leaked" from the main investigation. He said those steps come amid an ongoing 10-month investigation into other media reports that leaked sensitive information.

Former CIA officials have told The Associated Press that the prison operated from December 2002 until the fall of 2003, and that prisoners were subjected to harsh interrogations there. The Council of Europe and the United Nations have also said they have evidence the site existed.

However, Polish officials in power at the time adamantly deny that there was ever such a site.

The issue is deemed extremely sensitive because any Polish involvement in treatment that amounted to what human rights lawyers call torture would have violated European conventions and laws. {continued}