Poland Prepares to Pay Compensation to Torture Victims
WARSAW, Poland, May 15 (UPI) — Poland is preparing to pay damages to two alleged terrorists who won a torture case against Poland in 2014.
Saudi citizens Abd al-Rahim and Abu Zubaydah, each now incarcerated at the United States’ prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were allegedly subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques,” illegal in the United States, by the CIA on Polish soil in 2002. The alleged terrorists won their case against Poland in 2014 in the European Court of Human Rights, and an appeal by Poland was rejected.
Poland is preparing to pay al-Rahim and Zubaydah $133,000 each in compensation, before a May 16 deadline.
Although the current Polish government has not admitted the existence of a CIA site in Poland, former President Aleksander Kwasniewski has said his country provided “a quiet location” for the CIA. His comments came after a U.S. Senate report in 2014 noted prisoners in the Stare Kiejkuty prison, at a former military base, were victims of various torture methods.
Kwasniewski is still liable for a possible jail sentence for his complicity in the CIA site, and his denial of its existence during a 2006 European Parliament investigation.
The prison was established “out of friendship with the United States, which we still feel,” former Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said, adding, “We have been embarrassed by it, but even so we do not apologize for having the closest possible security and intelligence relationship with the United States. We might have to pay compensation even though our personnel did nothing wrong. You can imagine how Polish people feel about it… we just wish that intelligence matters were kept confidential.”
