CIA torture: Aleksander Kwasniewski admits Poland hosted CIA secret prison

Former President Aleksander Kwasniewski has acknowledged Poland let the CIA run a secret prison on its territory following 9/11.

Aleksander Kwasniewski insisted he had not known about the harsh treatment used by the CIA interrogators.

The former president had previously denied that Poland hosted a secret CIA prison.

The US Senate report into the CIA’s activities did not name the countries that hosted the prisons.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in July that Poland had allowed the CIA to torture two al-Qaeda suspects at a secret detention centre in 2002 and 2003, when Aleksander Kwasniewski was president.

In an interview following the publication of the CIA torture report, Aleksander Kwasniewski said Poland had agreed to strengthen intelligence co-operation with the US following the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

He said the Americans were very secretive about the way they conducted their activities, which aroused suspicions among Polish officials.

“Poland took steps to end the activity at this site and the activity was stopped at some point,” Aleksander Kwasniewski told Radio TOK FM in Warsaw.

He said he had been unaware of the methods they used which, he added, were totally unacceptable and unjustifiable.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into the claims in 2008, three years after Aleksander Kwasniewski left office. The investigation continues and has yet to publish any findings.

The CIA has defended its actions in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US, saying they saved lives.