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Lithuania Not to Appeal European Court Ruling Over US CIA Prisons - Official

VILNIUS (Sputnik) - Lithuania decided not to appeal the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that the Baltic country hosted a secret CIA jail, where the agency held and interrogated terrorism suspects, the press service of Lithuania's representative at the court said in a statement on Thursday.
Sputnik

"A decision was taken not to refer to the Grand Chamber over the case Abu Zubaydah v. Lithuania. Such a decision is a result of several factors which would ultimately prevent the appeal from achieving its goal and could possibly undermine Lithuania's reputation on the international scene," the statement read.

The ECHR ruled in late May that Lithuania was complicit in CIA's secret rendition program which led to rights violations and arbitrary detention in CIA "black sites" of al-Qaeda* suspects, including Palestinian Abu Zubaydah.

READ MORE: 'Complicit': EU Rights Court Condemns Lithuania, Romania Over Secret CIA Prisons

Lithuania was ordered to pay 100,000 euros (about $116,000) in damages to Zubaydah for allowing the CIA to subject him to an ill-treatment on the territory of the Baltic country.

READ MORE: UN Urges Full-Fledged Probe Into Allegations of Secret CIA Prison in Lithuania

According to the statement, Lithuanian authorities would take necessary steps to fulfill the ECHR ruling once it comes into effect on August 31.

*al-Qaeda — a terrorist organization banned in Russia

READ MORE: Ex-CIA Agent Recounts Violent Arrest on Capitol Hill for Protesting CIA Torture

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