[JURIST] The European Commission (EC) [official website], the executive branch of the European Union, is still awaiting appropriate responses from Romania and Poland regarding allegations that they assisted the CIA in operating secret prisons [JURIST news archives] for terror suspects, an EC spokesperson said Friday. The spokesperson said that Romania has sent a response, but that it was not complete to the satisfaction of EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini [official website]; Poland has not responded at all. Frattini sent reminders to both countries last month, after sending them letters in July 2007 seeking details.

The allegations against the two countries came in a June 2007 report [text; JURIST report] to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [official website] by Swiss Senator Dick Marty [personal website; JURIST news archive] that accused numerous European governments of cooperating with CIA rendition flights and hosting secret prisons. On Friday, Marty responded [press statement] to a Thursday admission [JURIST report] by UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband that two US planes landed on the UK Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia in 2002 to refuel during extraordinary rendition flights [JURIST news archive]:

Yet more denials prove to be untrue. Further admissions will undoubtedly confirm the facts established by the Council of Europe. The truth is on the march. I call on the parliaments and the courts of the countries named in the Parliamentary Assembly resolutions to step up their efforts to shed full light on this matter. I deplore the lack of resolve of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to associate themselves with this search for the truth, a truth that must be established to ensure that there will never again be abuses of this kind in Europe.