The CIA paid cash. A NATO ally supplied the torture prison

Just outside a European capital, the agency ran a black site with the knowledge and assistance of the local authorities Throughout the summer, a major scandal has been brewing in Lithuania.

In late July, the country suffered a landmark defeat in the European Court of Human Rights in a case brought by Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national held in secret detention and brutally tortured for four years in CIA black sites around the world – including Lithuania.

While Western governments and news outlets have ignored the judgement, the ECHR’s conclusions produced bitter political division locally , with the opposition calling for a new investigation into the CIA’s use and abuse of the country during the US-led ‘War on Terror’.

Lithuania’s ruling coalition, in keeping with previous governments, is resistant to any further damaging light being shed on their territory hosting criminal operations of American intelligence for many years in total secret, with perpetrators of horrendous torture insulated from any legal repercussions or professional consequence.

Their resistance is understandable.

On top of not wanting to offend their colossal US ally, Lithuania’s ruling elites are keen to conceal from the local population, and the world, how their ‘independence’ under Western hegemony comes with unseen strings attached.

When those strings entail intimate collusion in grave crimes, it’s Lithuania that suffers the consequences.

Read more Inside Unit 731: A death factory, a secret deal, and thousands of forgotten victims (DISTURBING CONTENT) How did the ECHR rule against Lithuania? Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is accused of being the mastermind of the October 2000 USS Cole bombing , and heading Al Qaeda in the Persian Gulf.

He was captured by the CIA in November 2002.

Over the next four years, he was held in nine separate CIA black sites, and brutally tortured every step of the way.

Five months of his ordeal were spent at a specially constructed facility in Lithuania, named ‘ Detention Site Violet ’ in internal CIA memos, from November 2005 to March 2006.

Lithuania denied any responsibility for al-Nashiri’s maltreatment, and contested the evidentiary basis of his claims.

The ECHR found Vilnius’ culpability was “proven beyond reasonable doubt.” During his incarceration in Lithuania, al-Nashiri was held incommunicado in solitary confinement and denied any contact with the outside world.

His removal from the country was conducted with the Lithuanian government’s full knowledge he could face “a flagrant denial of justice and the death penalty” if extradited to the US, where he has remained in Guantanamo Bay until today.