Council Of Europe Urges Romanian Probe Into CIA Activities

24 November 2005 -- The Council of Europe today urged Romania to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into claims that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ran secret prisons on Romanian soil.

The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rene van der Linden, made the appeal in a speech to Romanian legislators.

Romania has repeatedly denied hosting secret CIA detention facilities and has offered to open up its military bases for inspection.

Yesterday, the Council of Europe said it was opening its own probe into mounting reports that the CIA used Eastern European airports to transit suspected terrorists held secretly outside U.S. territory.

(AP/AFP/dpa)