Author: JURIST – Paper Chase

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Canadian Competition Bureau reached an agreement on Monday to allow the merger between Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. and Live Nation, Inc.. The two companies agreed to the 10-year settlement terms set by the DOJ and the Competition Bureau, which had determined after reviewing the original merger terms that the move “raised serious economic concerns” and “would deter other companies from entering the market to compete against the merged” corporation. According to the DOJ, the settlement:
will require Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. to license its ticketing software, divest ticketing assets and subject itself to anti-retaliation provisions in order to proceed with its proposed merger with Live Nation Inc. … protect competition for primary ticketing, which will in turn maintain incentives for innovation and discounting.The settlement will enable Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and another suitable buyer, likely Comcast-Spectacor, to compete with the merged corporation.The Obama administration has pledged to increase reviews of proposed mergers. In September, the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission announced that they are considering revisions to the Horizontal Mergers Guidelines. In May, the DOJ announced that it would reverse Bush administration antitrust policies that made it difficult to act against large companies that harm the interests of smaller companies. In September 2008, three of the four sitting FTC members denounced a report released by the DOJ as “a blueprint for radically weakened enforcement” of federal antitrust law.

[JURIST] The Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) war crimes court confirmed on Monday that three former Bosnian Serb policemen have been indicted on charges of genocide for their alleged roles in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian civil war. Dusko Jevic served as Deputy Commander of the Special Police Brigade, while Mendeljev Duric and Goran Markovic served as Jahorina Training Center Squad Commanding Officers. According to the court, the three former policemen:
commanded their units, acting individually and in concert with other participants, planned, ordered, incited and took part in the realization of the systemic and joint criminal act. The accused allegedly during the period from 10 July until 19 July 1995, as co-perpetrators, inflicted severe bodily and mental injuries to a group of Bosniaks, committed killings of male members of the group of Bosniaks and forcefully transferred women, children and elderly persons from the UN protected zone Srebrenica in order to completely exterminate national, ethnic and religious group of Bosniaks.The three men were arrested in late 2009.Last week, the US extradited to BiH Bosnian Serb Nedjo Ikonic, a former commander of a special police brigade, who will also be tried by the BiH war crimes court for his role in the Srebrenica massacre. Earlier this month, police in BiH arrested Ratko Dronjak and Dragan Rodic, two former Bosnian Serb detention camp guards who were allegedly responsible for the death of about 50 civilians and Bosnian soldiers during the Bosnian civil war. The BiH war crimes court was set up in the 2005 to relieve the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and is authorized to try lower-level war crime suspects. The court delivered its first sentences against war crimes suspects from Yugoslavia’s violent ethnic conflicts of the 1990s in July 2008, convicting seven of genocide for their involvement in killings committed at the Srebrenica prison camp. The ICTY retains jurisdiction over high-level war crimes allegations, such as those against Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that three Guantanamo Bay detainees have been transferred to Slovakia. Slovakia announced last week that it would accept the detainees, in what was widely seen as an endorsement of US president Barack Obama’s foreign policy. The DOJ made this statement about the transfer:
The identities of these three individuals are being withheld at the request of the Government of Slovakia for security and privacy reasons. The United States is grateful to the Government of Slovakia for its willingness to support US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.The latest transfers follow a series of other recent detainee transfers to Algeria and other countries.The Obama administration had planned to close Guantanamo Bay by January 22, 2010, but has been stymied by opposition from Congress and the recent suspension of detainee transfers to Yemen. In November, the Center for American Progress issued a report blaming missteps by the Obama administration for the delay in closing the facility.

[JURIST] Iraqi officials on Monday executed Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as “Chemical Ali,” for ordering the Kurdish village of Halabja gassed in 1988. Government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh stated that al-Majid had committed crimes of mass murder and premeditated bodily harm against the Iraqi population. Al-Majid was convicted earlier this month of ordering the gassing and sentenced to death. The gassing, which killed 5,000 Kurds, was part of the wider Anfal campaign against Kurds in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime, and is considered one of the worst attacks on the ethnic minority.
Al-Majid had received three prior death sentences. In March, al-Majid received his third death sentence for his role in the 1999 killings of protesters who rioted in Baghdad and Amarah following the alleged assassination of Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr. In December 2008, the Tribunal sentenced al-Majid to death for his involvement in the repression of Shiites in southern Iraq during the Saddam regime. Al-Majid was also sentenced to death for another killing of Kurdish Iraqis using chemical weapons during the Anfal campaign.

[JURIST] The French parliament will likely limit a proposal to ban the burqa and niqab, full face veils worn by some devout Muslim women, to public buildings only, according to Monday reports. A parliamentary panel charged with examining the issue is set to report its recommendations on Tuesday, and they are unlikely to press for a complete ban. The potential French “burqa ban” has received widespread support from the government, including from President Nicolas Sarkozy. Any legislation will probably not be voted on until after the French regional elections in March. There is still ongoing debate as to what the proposal should include and whether the ban would violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
The parliamentary panel was created by the National Assembly in July. The panel has heard testimony from anthropologist Dounia Bouzar, who suggested that a broad ban on covering one’s face to conceal identity is preferable to a law that singles out Muslims. Bouzar said that the recent popularity of the burqa amongst French Muslims was due to religious “gurus” who have misconstrued the teachings of Islam. The commission also heard from University of Nice philosopher Abdennour Bidar, who urged the commission to find a way to prevent the spread of the practice, though he was unsure whether this goal is best accomplished through legislation. The issue of imposing a full veil ban came to the forefront after a niqab-wearing woman’s citizenship application was denied in 2008 for failing to assimilate to French culture.

[JURIST] An Indian court on Monday rejected a request by suspected Mumbai terror attack gunman Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab to be tried in an international court. Kasab claimed he would not receive a fair trial in India and that police had falsely accused him of taking part in the 2008 terror attacks. Special Court Judge ML Tahaliyani denied Kasab’s request, calling it “premature.” Kasab also requested that he be allowed to examine defense witnesses, including passport officers and government staff, from Pakistan and that he be allowed to meet with Pakistani officials. Tahaliyani told Kasab he should file a petition through his lawyer. Kasab is facing 86 charges, including murder, for his role in the attacks and, if convicted, could receive the death penalty. A verdict in the trial is expected sometime early this year.
Last month, Kasab withdrew his confession, claiming he was tortured and framed by police. Kasab originally pleaded not guilty last year, but interrupted his trial to confess and change his plea to guilty in July. Tahaliyani continued the trial despite Kasab’s confession, ruling that it was incomplete but should be entered into the record. Kasab claimed that he is not the man seen in a photograph holding an assault rifle in the train station. Kasab testified that he had been arrested by police days before the attacks for being Pakistani and that police shot him to make it look like he had been injured during the attacks. He also claimed to have met David Headley, the Chicago man charged in connection with the attacks, but only after the attacks when Headley allegedly came to question Kasab in the company of three FBI agents.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal brought by former Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega challenging a lower court ruling denying his habeas corpus petition and authorizing his extradition to France on money laundering charges. Noriega, who has been declared a prisoner of war, sought to enforce a provision of the Geneva Convention that requires repatriation at the end of confinement. In an April decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that his claim was precluded by § 5 of the Military Commission Act of 2006, which the Government argued “codifie the principle that the Geneva Conventionsre not judicially enforceable by private parties.” Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented from the denial of certiorari, arguing that the Court should use the opportunity to resolve confusion over its decision in Boumediene v. Bush granting federal courts the power to review habeas petitions brought by “enemy combatants.”
It is incumbent upon us to provide what guidance we can on these issues now. Whatever conclusion we reach, our opinion will help the political branches and the courts discharge their responsibilities over detainee cases, and will spare detainees and the Government years of unnecessary litigation.They said that Noriega’s case presented a unique opportunity to address the constitutional question regarding the Suspension Clause without the complications of dealing with classified evidence or “issues relating to extraterritorial detention.”The Court also granted certiorari in the consolidated cases of Abbott v. United States and Gould v. United States to consider whether the minimum sentencing guidelines for armed offenses in 18 USC &sect 924(c) includes the drug offense giving rise to the sentence, or another weapons offense for the same transaction.

[JURIST] Zimbabwe’s high court Monday struck out evidence from a key witness in the trial of Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party treasurer and deputy agriculture minister-nominee Roy Bennett. Peter Michael Hitschmann was called as the attorney general’s main witness against Bennett, but alleged in court that security officials tortured him while in custody to obtain statements against Bennett. The State sought to use the confessions and additional e-mail correspondence as evidence to impeach Hitschmann for inconsistent statements. Judge Chinembiri Bhunu ruled that the statements made by Hitschmann were not freely made, invalid, and could not be used as evidence as they were not signed by Hitschmann.
Bennett’s trial began in November after being delayed in October to allow counsel more time to develop a defense. Bennett’s defense lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, asked the court to prohibit evidence obtained from Hitschmann. Bennett faces charges under Zimbabwe’s Public Order and Security Act for unlawfully possessing weapons and provoking others “to commit terrorism, banditry and sabotage.” The weapons charges involve a possible death sentence. Bennett was originally arrested on weapons charges in February, and was later released on bail in March. Bennett was then re-arrested on the same charges in October, only to be released on bail again. Bennett was originally sought for questioning in relation to similar allegations in 2006, but he had been seeking asylum in South Africa until recently. Treason charges against him were dropped in favor of the terrorism and other charges. Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had nominated Bennett to be deputy agriculture minister.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-3 in Hemi Group, LLC v. City of New York that the city government lacks standing under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to bring a suit against Hemi Group, which operates websites offering cigarettes for sale “tax-free.” The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the city of New York had standing to bring the RICO suit. In reversing the lower court, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote:
It bears remembering what this case is about. It is about the RICO liability of a company for lost taxes it had no obligation to collect, remit, or pay, which harmed a party to whom it owed no duty. It is about imposing such liability to substitute for or complement a governing body’s uncertain ability or desire to collect taxes directly from those who owe them. And it is about the fact that the liability comes with treble damages and attorney’s fees attached. This Court has interpreted RICO broadly, consistent with its terms, but we have also held that its reach is limited by the “requirement of a direct causal connection” between the predicate wrong and the harm. The City’s injuries here were not caused directly by the alleged fraud, and thus were not caused “by reason of” it. The City, therefore, has no RICO claim.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a separate opinion, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. Justice Stephen Breyer filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was a member of the three-judge panel on the Second Circuit and took no part in the decision.Also Monday, the Court released its opinion in Briscoe v. Virginia, in which the Court was asked to decide whether a state violates the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment by allowing a prosecutor to introduce a certificate of a forensic laboratory analysis without presenting the testimony of the analyst who prepared the certificate. The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that there was no Confrontation Clause violation because the accused has a right to call the analyst as his own witness. The entire text of the Court’s per curiam opinion read:We vacate the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia and remand the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with the opinion in Melendez-Diaz v. MassachusettsJust last term, the Court ruled 5-4 in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts that a forensic analyst’s laboratory report is testimonial evidence under the Confrontation Clause, giving criminal defendants a right to cross-examine the analysts.

[JURIST] Guatemalan authorities have issued an arrest warrant for former president Alfonso Portillo, after the US government requested his extradition on Sunday to face charges of money laundering. Portillo, who was president of Guatemala from 2000 to 2004, has been charged in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on information provided by former members of Portillo’s government. Portillo is accused of taking $15.8 million from funds designated for the Guatemalan Ministry of Defense and siphoning it into bank accounts in Europe and Bermuda. More than 100 officers of the National Civil Police, members of the army, and officers of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala were dispatched to apprehend Portillo, carrying out four raids throughout the country, but Portillo has evaded capture.
In 2008, Portillo was extradited back to Guatemala from Mexico, where he had fled after his immunity expired along with his term in office. The extradition order was first signed in 2006, but Portillo challenged it in court, until the Mexican Supreme Court ruled against him in January 2008. Numerous members of Portillo’s cabinet have been arrested and tried on fraud charges during his time in exile.

[JURIST] A Myanmar government official has said that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be released from house arrest in November when her sentence is scheduled to end. Witnesses reported that Home Minister Major General Maung Oo made the statement Thursday during a speech to several hundred local officials in the town of Kyaukpadaung. The government of Myanmar is planning to hold the country’s first elections since 1990 sometime this year, although a date has not yet been set, and Suu Kyi’s supporters see the statement as an indication that she will not be permitted to participate in the elections. Maung Oo’s statement came just days after the Myanmar Supreme Court heard Suu Kyi’s appeal contesting an 18-month extension to her house arrest that was imposed by a lower court in August. The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case within a month.
The extension of Suu Kyi’s house arrest stems from an August conviction for violating state security laws by allowing American John Yettaw to stay in her home after he swam across a lake to get there. Yettaw, who was sentenced to seven years in prison with four years of hard labor, was released in August after negotiations with US Senator Jim Webb (D-VA). Suu Kyi was initially sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, but her sentence was immediately commuted by junta chief General Than Shwe. Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, and her latest conviction has been condemned by many world leaders as a political move to prevent her from running in the upcoming elections. Her conviction has given rise to international sanctions against Myanmar’s junta and members of the judiciary.

[JURIST] Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could face a third corruption trial based on new information that recently surfaced, according to Saturday reports. Berlusconi, who is already facing two separate trials on charges of corruption and bribery, is accused of embezzlement and tax fraud related to his television company Mediaset, though his lawyers have dismissed any substance to the charges. Berlusconi’s son and 11 other members of Mediaset’s board are also implicated. A Milan judge will decide if there is enough evidence to hold a trial, which could begin as early as February.
In October, the Italian Constitutional Court struck down a 2008 law granting immunity to Berlusconi and four others, allowing charges to be reinstated. Earlier this week, the Italian Senate approved a bill to place time limits on the trial process, which would have the effect of dismissing charges against Berlusconi. Last week, Italian judges postponed Berlusconi’s corruption trial at his lawyers’ request. He is charged with paying his British lawyer David Mills to provide false testimony in two trials involving Mediaset. Berlusconi’s tax fraud trial has also been postponed. Berlusconi has been previously acquitted of false accounting and bribery, and has had some other charges against him dropped.

[JURIST] Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for a new age of human rights and safety in the embattled Caucasus region of Russia, where the killings of journalists and human rights activists have become increasingly common. The announcement comes in tandem with the appointment of Aleksandr Khloponin as new presidential envoy to the area. Speaking at a meeting on the development of the North Caucasus Federal District, Putin said:
I invite representatives of regional authorities, representatives of local authorities, and law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to ensure proper operation and functioning of human rights organizations, those working within the framework of existing legislation in Russia to help people.Deaths of human rights workers are often blamed on the local police and security forces, who rarely face charges. In October, the UN published a report on reforms Russia must take to protect human rights, highlighting the Caucasus region. The UN report came less than a week after prominent opposition leader and human rights activist in Russia’s southern province of Ingushetia, Maksharip Aushev, was shot dead while traveling on a highway in the North Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria. In August, Chechen human rights activist Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov were found dead. Sadulayeva’s death came less than a month after the death of activist Natalia Estemirova. Also in July, the body of Russian human rights activist Andrei Kulagin, missing since May, was found in a quarry. In April, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin expressed concern that activists in Russia were being attacked with greater frequency.

[JURIST] US Vice President Joe Biden announced Saturday that the US will appeal a ruling dismissing voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges against five Blackwater guards who were indicted for their involvement in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in September 2007. Biden made the announcement during a visit to Baghdad where he met with Iraqi political leaders to help deal with issues over parliamentary elections scheduled for March. Biden expressed personal regret over the shootings and said that while the charges were dismissed, that was not the same as the men being acquitted. Biden added:
The United States is determined to hold accountable anyone who commits crimes against the Iraqi people. While we fully respect the independence and the integrity of the US judicial system we were disappointed by the judge’s decision to dismiss the indictment, which was based on the way in which some evidence had been acquired.”Biden said that the US Department of Justice will file the appeal next week.In December, Judge Richardo Urbina of the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed charges against the five Blackwater guards. Urbina cited statements of the defendants that he said were given under the threat of job loss and with the promise of immunity. Because of the unconstitutionality of the statements, Urbina determined, prosecutors had to put together a case without them. The Blackwater incident caused domestic outrage in Iraq and has prompted legal controversy in the US. A FBI inquiry into the incident concluded that the shootings were unjustified.

[JURIST] A federal judge on Friday reduced a $1.92 million jury verdict against a Minnesota woman who was found to have violated music copyrights to about $54,000. Chief Judge Michael Davis of the US District Court for the District Court of Minnesota called the damages amount “monstrous and shocking” and said the facts of the case could not justify the jury verdict. Davis emphasized that Jammie Thomas-Rasset was an individual consumer who downloaded music for her own use and not for profit, and also said that the damages to the plaintiffs, members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), did not support the verdict. The judge ultimately decided the award should be triple the statutory minimum of $750 per song, because Thomas-Rasset willfully shared 24 songs on the file-sharing program KaZaA and because of the need for deterrence. The ruling also denied a request for a new trial by Thomas-Rasset and gave the RIAA seven days to accept the decision or request a new hearing on the damages issue.
In June, a federal jury in Minnesota found that Thomas-Rasset had violated music copyrights and assessed damages at $80,000 per song for 24 songs. She was found to have willfully violated copyright law by sharing songs on KaZaA, which has since become a legitimate music purveyor. The proceedings against Thomas-Rasset were a retrial of a previous judgment against her, granted by a federal judge on the grounds that the court erred by instructing the jury that making the music available on the KaZaA network was enough to violate the Copyright Act and that the $222,000 in damages was excessive. In December, the RIAA said that it would discontinue its controversial policy of suing suspected file-sharers and instead will seek cooperation with major Internet service providers to cut off access to repeat offenders.

[JURIST] A German court in Nuremberg has issued an arrest warrant for Argentina’s former de-facto president Jorge Videla for helping to cover up the death of a German citizen in 1978, at the height of the “Dirty War”. The Bayern prosecutor reopened the case in December and requested an order of arrest for Videla after the remains of Rolf Stawowiok were identified through genetic testing in early 2009. The local Nuremberg court had closed the case in 2008 citing a lack of physical evidence as well as an Argentine court ruling declining to extradite Videla for the deaths of another two German citizens. Stawowiok’s remains were exhumed in 2004 and were found to have evidence of torture and bullets. Argentine authorities have said that Videla will remain in prison until he has served his prior sentence.
Videla has been in prison since 2008 while an investigation is underway for his role in the abduction of children born to political prisoners and forced disappearance victims during Argentina’s Dirty War. He is also under investigation for the deaths of 31 political prisoners. A court revoked the house arrest conditions he had been granted in 1998 when the investigation began. Previously, he had served five years from a life sentence for human rights violations committed during his term in power, until in 1990 he was pardoned by then-president Carlos Menem. In 2006, a federal judge ruled that the presidential pardon was unconstitutional. Italy has also requested Videla’s extradition to prosecute him for the deaths and forced disappearances of Italian citizens during the Dirty War. During the period Videla was head of the military junta (1976-1981), an estimated 90,000 civilians were killed or disappeared.

[JURIST] The Hawaii Senate voted 18-7 Friday in favor of legislation allowing same-sex civil unions. The act would confer upon homosexual and heterosexual couples rights and benefits equal to those afforded married couples in the state. Originally introduced last year, public notice requirements forced a vote on the matter to be delayed after an amendment was adopted one day prior to the close of the legislative session. The bill now returns to the House, though leaders indicate that they may decline to act on it if they do not have sufficient support to override a potential veto from Governor Linda Lingle.
The New Jersey Senate defeated legislation to allow same-sex marriage earlier this month, and the New York Senate did so in December. In November, Maine voters vetoed a same-sex marriage bill passed by that state’s legislature, while Washington voters approved expanded domestic partnership rights. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and is set to become legal in Washington DC, pending Congressional inaction. New Jersey has recognized same-sex civil unions since 2006.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama on Friday signed a bill that will allow Americans to claim contributions made to Haitian earthquake relief efforts as a deduction on their 2009 federal income tax returns. Under the new law, monetary donations made between January 11 and March 1, 2010, including those made by cellular telephone, are eligible for the exemption. The measure is designed to encourage additional contributions, as without the bill, taxpayers would not be able to receive credit until next year. Similar legislation was passed in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
On January 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused massive damage to property and infrastructure in Haiti. The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti has said that up to 50 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, including the presidential palace, the UN Mission headquarters, and the main prison, allowing nearly 4,000 inmates to escape. Thousand of US military troops have been deployed to assist the Haitian police and international peacekeepers as they confront rising lawlessness in the country. Haitian government officials estimate the death toll to be as high as 100,000 to 200,000.

[JURIST] The Swiss Federal Administrative Court ruled Thursday that an American taxpayer’s financial information at Swiss bank UBS may not be disclosed to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) pursuant to an August 2009 agreement. The court ruled in favor of an undisclosed American taxpayer, who appealed a November decision by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (AFC) that would have allowed the disclosure. The Federal Administrative Court considered that in light of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the current US-Switzerland double taxation convention controls the subject matter of the case. The 2009 agreement under which the AFC acted does not supersede or amend the tax convention. The court also held that the American taxpayer’s failure to file a W-9 form with information about her off-shore finances is akin to failing to declare taxes, even if it pertains to significant amounts of money, and does not rise to the level of tax fraud, which would grant US authorities access. The decision applies to the cases of 25 other American clients of UBS and may not be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
The Swiss Federal Administrative Court ruled earlier this month that the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) violated the law in February 2009 when it ordered UBS to disclose information to the US on more than 250 of the bank’s clients without the authority to do so. In September, the US and Switzerland signed a treaty that would increase the amount of information shared between the two nations on would-be tax evaders. The agreement, constructed in accordance with Article 26 of the Model Tax Convention, came one month after a Swiss banker and lawyer were indicted in US federal court for helping clients hide assets. In March, the Swiss announced their intention to adopt a more stringent definition of tax evasion and to work with other countries to investigate such claims.

[JURIST] Lithuanian Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas resigned Thursday in the midst of a dispute with President Dalia Grybauskaite over secret US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secret prisons in the country. Grybauskaite has publicly said that she believes there were prisoners held in Lithuania, but Usackas has denied this. The dispute follows a parliamentary report that found that the CIA had been provided two facilities in Lithuania to interrogate al Qaeda suspects. Usackas has maintained that no prisoners were actually held at the locations. On Wednesday, Grybauskaite had urged Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius to dismiss Usackas because he had lost the President’s confidence and trust.
In December, the Lithuanian Parliament National Security Committee reported that the CIA had established secret prisons for al Qaeda suspects in the Baltic country. Lawmakers demanded the investigation in October after ABC News reported in August that former CIA officials said that Lithuania provided the CIA with facilities for a secret prison for high-value al Qaeda suspects in order to improve relations with the US. The parliamentary committee concluded that the Lithuanian State Security Department provided the CIA with two secret facilities, but it is unclear whether either facility was used to interrogate detainees. The committee uncovered no evidence that former president Valdus Adamkus and former prime minister Algirdas Brazauskas, who were both in office during the specified time period, were told about the secret detention centers.