Council of Europe: US has “betrayed its highest principles”

Today the Council’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has issued a clear condemnation of the United States Government for the unlawful detention and abuse of prisoners at Guantánamo:

The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights considers
  that, through its practices surrounding detentions at Guantánamo Bay, the
  United States Government has betrayed its own highest principles. Guantánamo
  Bay is not a “legal black hole”: international human rights law has at all
  times been fully applicable to all detainees and for those captured during
  now-ceased international armed conflict in Afghanistan, protection of certain
  rights may have been complemented by the provisions of international
  humanitarian law for the duration of that conflict.

On the basis of an extensive review of legal and factual
  material from a wide range of reliable sources, the Committee concludes that
  the circumstances surrounding detentions by the USA at Guantánamo Bay show
  unlawfulness on grounds including the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading
  treatment of detainees and violations of rights relating to prisoner-of-war
  status, the right to judicial review of the lawfulness of detention and the
  right to a fair trial. The Committee also finds that the USA has engaged in
  the unlawful practices of secret detention and “rendition” (i.e. the removal
  of persons to other countries, without judicial supervision, for purposes such
  as interrogation or detention) and that US proposals to return or transfer
  detainees to other countries in reliance on “diplomatic assurances” risk
  violating the principle of non-refoulement.

The Committee therefore calls on the US Government to
  ensure respect for the rule of law and human rights by remedying these
  situations. It further calls on member states to protect the situation of
  persons from their countries who are or have been detained at Guantánamo and
  to ensure that they do not contribute to and are not complicit in such
  unlawfulness. Finally, the Committee calls on the Committee of Ministers to
  transmit its concerns to the US Government, reminding it of its obligations as
  an observer state to the Council of Europe and recommends measures to ensure
  monitoring of the future implementation of the Committee’s proposals.

The FDP representative and former federal justice Sabine
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger commented:
„Unsere lange erkämpften
Rechtsstandards dürfen auch in dieser Situation nicht geopfert
werden.“