Finland seen to be reluctant to act on information on possible CIA prisoner flights

List of suspicious flights hidden away in archive for five years

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The poor formulation of a question, the unwillingness of the United States to cooperate, upcoming elections, and the letter of the law – these are some of the reasons given by Finland for not acting on information on suspected “extraordinary rendition” flights by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, which are believed to have made stopovers in Finland.
      The Council of Europe, the main European body promoting human rights, gave Finland a list of registration numbers of 41 suspicious planes already in 2006.
      Dick Marty, who investigated the flights on behalf of the Council of Europe, asked Finland to examine the routes and landing times of the planes in question. In effect, he was asking for the same information that the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs published just over a week ago.
     
Marty’s list was given to the Finnish delegation to the Council of Europe. According to the delegation’s secretary Gunilla Carland, the delegation lacked the resources necessary to initiate the studies requested by the council. She also says that the letter was not passed on to anyone.
      MP Antti Kaikkonen (Centre Party) was deputy chair of the delegation in March 2006. He does not recall any letter from Dick Martyn, nor can he explain why it was left lying in the delegation’s archive.
      “The issue somehow drifted by. But it’s good that these flights are being looked into now”, Kaikkonen says.
     
Also drawing a blank on Martyn’s list of planes is Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja (SDP).
      “It isn’t a matter that came before me”, Tuomioja said to Helsingin Sanomat over a week ago.
      The Finnish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday to STT that it is asking the United States for more information on a number of planes that stopped in Finland. Previously it had planned to inquire on only one plane.
      So far the United States has responded to all questions concerning the extraordinary rendition flights in a vague and imprecise manner. Tuomioja says that Finnish attempts to get more information have foundered on US stonewalling.
     
“It really is stupid to claim that the prisoner flights cannot be investigated without cooperating with the United States”, says US human rights expert Julia Hall, who has investigated the rendition flights on behalf of Amnesty International.
      She says that there is enough information available in Europe to piece together a picture of the events.
      “It would be much easier to figure out Finland’s role if Finland had published the information years ago.”
     
The CIA had an extensive prisoner flight programme between 2002 and 2006 connected with the fight against terrorism.
      The programme involved at least 800 flights in Europe, and it was seen to be in violation of human rights treaties, as most of the prisoners have never faced trial.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish report on suspected CIA extraordinary rendition flight leaves many open questions (1.11.2011)
  Finland may have been false destination for CIA flight (4.11.2011)
  Suspected CIA prisoner rendition plane “disappeared” in Helsinki in March 2006 (1.11.2011)
  Amnesty International: More evidence of possible CIA rendition flights landing in Finland (11.10.2011)

Helsingin Sanomat