Externe

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Poland's former national security adviser said on Thursday he would sue a European investigator for naming him in a report that accused Poland and Romania of hosting secret CIA prisons for suspected terrorists.

Marek Siwiec said he had demanded that Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty remove his name from the report, in which he was mentioned as one of the officials who was aware of and could be held accountable for the prisons.

"I did not receive any answer from Marty, so I will be forced to start court proceedings for libel, for actions that were intended to harm my good name," Siwiec, who is now a vice-president of the European parliament, was quoted as saying by Polish news agency PAP.

Poland and Romania deny hosting prisons for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Marty said in the report Poland housed some of the CIA's most sensitive prisoners under a post-September 11 pact to hunt down and interrogate "high value" terrorist suspects wanted by the United States.

He based his report on interviews with more than 30 European and U.S. intelligence officials but Poland and Romania dismissed his conclusions because none of his sources was named.

The Swiss investigator has defended the use of anonymous witnesses, saying his sources needed to be protected because they would face charges of high treason in their countries if their identity was revealed.

U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged last year that the CIA had held top al Qaeda suspects in secret overseas detention centers but did not say in which countries.