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Lithuania weighs taking Guantanamo prisoners

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Vygaudas Usackas said Wednesday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will begin talks with the US about the possibility of accepting prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. Lithuanian Defense Minister Rasa Jukneviciene expects to discuss the matter with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates during her first diplomatic visit to the US since the new administration took office. In a speech Thursday to the German Society for Foreign Policy, Usackas expressed the need for Europeans to "extend a helping hand to the Americans on the closure of Guantanamo." The US Embassy in Lithuania welcomed Usackas's statements, saying they looked forward to working with the Lithuanian government on plans for closing the prison. Last week, the European Parliament voted 542-55, with 51 abstentions, to adopt a resolution calling for member states to accept low-risk prisoners who cannot be returned to their countries of origin for fear of persecution. Details regarding which prisoners may be transferred to which countries are as yet undetermined. Last month, Council of the European Union Secretary-General Javier Solana indicated that several EU member states would likely be willing to accept some former prisoners, though acceptance may be conditioned on the US providing careful background checks to prove that the detainees pose no danger to the host country. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has noted that legal obstacles facing the transfer of the detainees would be different for each host country, and that their acceptance would be determined on a case-by case basis.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 12, 2009 (boomark / email).