Tortures carried out by the CIA in Poland are confirmed by former president

Reuters

The Polish former president Aleksander Kwasniewski said on Wednesday that the torture applied in interrogations of CIA suspected on Polish territory ceased following pressure from Warsaw in 2003.

These statements confirm that these procedures were performed in Poland by the CIA. Furthermore, it becomes evident the silence of the Polish authorities for years about the case.

The day after the publication of a report by the US Senate regarding the torture, Kwasniewski, who had agreed to this “beefed-up intelligence cooperation,” stated in an interview that torture practices were initially ignored by Poland.

“That the Americans take these activities so as secret, raised concern. Therefore, the Polish authorities acted to stop them and the activities ceased,” he said.

Kwasniewski explained he had addressed this issue to President George W. Bush “in the Oval Office of the White House” in 2003. He said that Bush defended the activities of the CIA, saying it contributed”important benefits in security matters.”

But “I told (then US president George W) Bush that this cooperation must end and it did end,” he added.