ECHR decision on CIA prison based on indirect evidence – govt representative at court

“The ECHR basically used only indirect evidence, that is, mostly information available in the public domain,” Karolina Bubnytė told reporters at the Justice Ministry building on Thursday.

According to the lawyer, the key documents used by the ECHR were a US Senate Committee report released in, CIA documents, and research by international and non-governmental organizations.

“It hasn’t been established that this specific individual was transported by actual aircraft to or from Lithuania. It hasn’t been established that any specific Lithuanian officials was involved,” Bubnytė said.

“The court wasn’t quite convinced by us and we weren’t quite convinced by the court,” she added.

The government’s representative emphasized that the standards of evidence applied by the ECHR differ from than those applied by courts that hear criminal cases.

According to her, it is sufficient for the Strasbourg-based court to establish that a fact is more likely than unlikely.

The ECHR ruled on Thursday that Lithuania hosted a secret CIA prison for terror suspects in 2005 to 2006.

The court ordered Lithuania to pay 130,000 euros to Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi Arabia-born Palestinian who is currently held at the Guantanamo base, in compensation for his arbitrary detention in Lithuania.

US officials say that the man was is a member of the Al Qaeda and was involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.