The allegations about secret CIA prisons operated in eastern European countries that have been lingering since November 2005 were given fresh credibility by a report in the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick on 8 January 2006.
The news report is based on a fax, intercepted by a Swiss surveillance system. The fax, which was sent by Egypt's foreign ministry to Egypt's embassy in London, quotes a classified document that refers to the existence of secret CIA prisons in Europe: "23 Iraqi and Afghani citizens were interrogated in the base Mihail Kogalniceanu near the Romanian city of Constanza at the Black Sea. Similar interrogation camps are located in the Ukraine, in Kosovo, in Macedonia and in Bulgaria," the fax reads.
Romania has repeatedly denied the existence of such prisons on its soil, which could be bad news for Romania, which is due to enter the EU in 2007.
A C.I.A. spokeswoman declined to comment on the Swiss newspaper report. The Council of Europe is currently investigating the claims. Its investigator, senator Dick Marty, has received a copy of the document. Marty will present his findings later in January.
