Lithuanian prosecutors have officially confirmed that Lithuanian citizen Egle Kusaite has admitted that she was ready to perform a suicide bombing in a public space in Chechnya.  Kusaite’s mother denies those charges and claims that all confessions were obtained using physical and psychological pressure.

Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor General’s Office Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Department Algimantas Kliunka stated in a press conference on 11 June that Kusaite’s accomplices, a suspect group of three persons in Russia, were detained and admitted to plans of taking her into a military terrorist camp in Russia.  Klunka said during the press conference, “Kusaite is suspected of making a contact in June-October of 2009 with the Islamist groups based in Russia. From them she received an invitation to come to Russia, got USD 500 for the trip, took out a Lithuanian passport and got the visa.”

According to Kliunka, the officers of Lithuania’s State Security Department attempted to prevent her from accomplishing her plans.   The Chief Prosecutor stated that the Department also addressed the Russian Federation Embassy in Lithuania asking them not to issue a visa to Kuskaite.

Kusaite’s mother and aunt at the same press conference maintained that the accusations against Kusaite are all lies.  Kusaite’s mother stated, “Egle’s confession was forced through violence and threats and is also distorted.”  The Chief Prosecutor has denied those accusations and confirmed that only the legitimate methods were used during the interrogation process. 

Lithuanian prosecutors have officially confirmed that Lithuanian citizen Egle Kusaite has admitted that she was ready to perform a suicide bombing in a public space in Chechnya.  Kusaite’s mother denies those charges and claims that all confessions were obtained using physical and psychological pressure.

Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor General’s Office Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Department Algimantas Kliunka stated in a press conference on 11 June that Kusaite’s accomplices, a suspect group of three persons in Russia, were detained and admitted to plans of taking her into a military terrorist camp in Russia.  Klunka said during the press conference, “Kusaite is suspected of making a contact in June-October of 2009 with the Islamist groups based in Russia. From them she received an invitation to come to Russia, got USD 500 for the trip, took out a Lithuanian passport and got the visa.”

According to Kliunka, the officers of Lithuania’s State Security Department attempted to prevent her from accomplishing her plans.   The Chief Prosecutor stated that the Department also addressed the Russian Federation Embassy in Lithuania asking them not to issue a visa to Kuskaite.

Kusaite’s mother and aunt at the same press conference maintained that the accusations against Kusaite are all lies.  Kusaite’s mother stated, “Egle’s confession was forced through violence and threats and is also distorted.”  The Chief Prosecutor has denied those accusations and confirmed that only the legitimate methods were used during the interrogation process.

The Lithuanian authorities managed to prevent a terrorist attack in Russia.  Lithuanian citizen Egle Kusaite, alleged suicide bomber, was arrested in Lithuania on October 2009, on her attempt to board a plane bound for Russia.

During a hearing in the Court of Appeals on 4 May, Prosecutor Justas Laucius of the Prosecutor General’s Office revealed that Kusaite planned to act as a suicide bomber in a Russian military facility.  According to the Prosecutor the aim of this act was to claim as many lives possible.

Laucius  said to reporters after the hearing, “Kusaite did everything she could to carry out orders; that is to go to Russia and commit a suicide bombing in a military facility.”

According to the information from the hearing, Kusaite had links with Islamic fundamentalists from Russia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and the UK.  She had received funds and has learned how to prepare explosives and detonate then.

Lithuania’s General Prosecutor’s Office maintains that its cooperating with a foreign special service agancy in the investigation into the alleged attempt to create a terrorist cell in Lithuania.  The Chief prosecutor of the office’s Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department Algimantas Kliunka was quoted by the LNK as saying,  “Officers of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the State Security Department have been running a pre-trial investigation in a case of an alleged attempt to organize a terrorist cell as of August of 2009.”

The public statement from the Prosecutor’s Office came two days after Lietuvos rytas daily reported that a 20-year-old year female from Klaipėda was arrested at the Vilnius airport on the eve of the terrorist bombings in the Moscow underground stations of Lubyanka and Park Kultury on March 29.  The paper claims that the young female’s fiancé of Chechen origin was killed in Chechnya.  The paper also reported that during her arrest the Lithuanian agents discovered data in her bag about explosive mechanisms, their use and layouts of the Moscow underground.

Nevertheless, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that “The pre-trial investigation underway in Lithuania concerns circumstances not connected to the March 29 of 2010 terrorist bombings in Moscow’s underground.”

“The people of Lithuania and I were greatly shocked to hear about the deadly bombings in Moscow. I extend my sincere condolences to you personally, to the victims’ families and friends, and to the people of Russia,” Dalia Grybauskaitė wrote in her message of condolences to President Dmitry Medvedev.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius expressed his condolences to Prime Minister of the Russian Federation as well as the Russian people over the tragic incident: “Please accept my heartfelt condolences at the tragic loss of human lives and numerous injuries caused by the terror attacks committed in Moscow earlier today.

I am deeply shocked at this appalling act of blind violence against the innocent people. On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, may I express our sympathy to the families of the victims. We wish a speedy recovery and moral strength for the injured.”

The following news releases have been republished here from the Press Service of the Goverment of Lithuania and the Press Service of the President

The Lithuanian authorities vigorously denied those allegations as rumours and fantasies and maintain that no such facilities were stationed on Lithuanian territory. Even though President Grybauskaite stated that a commission should be created to investigate the allegations, the Prime Minister Kubilius was not too sure, since the investigations already were conduced in the past.

Chairman of the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee Mr Anusauskas has sent a request to the ABC News reporter Matthew Cole asking to disclose the sources and help the investigation.  However, Mr Cole replied in the letter by assuring the chairman that this information is reliable, that he will continue on the topic and he would never disclose his sources.

He said in his letter btained by BNS ‘Despite not being able to share with you any evidence or documentation, both I, and ABC News, fully stand by our reporting. I had four sources confirming the information, as well as sources who worked at the location.’  ABC News will likely report more on a secret prison operated by the CIA in Lithuania, the journalist said.

The Lithuanian parliamentary committees of National Security and Defence and Foreign Affairs on 9 August came to a conclusion that the Foreign Ministry should appeal to the United States for information about the secret CIA prison in Lithuania.

Mr Nerijus Maliukevicius, a lecturer of the Vilnius University International Relations and Political Science Institute was quoted by alfa.lt saying that if the investigation will prove that Lithuania never hosted CIA prisons the ABC News should either confirm or deny it by providing the information to Vilnius.

He said “Should the investigation of the National Security and Defence Committee and its results prove that the prison never existed, I believe we should appeal to the ABC channel via diplomatic channels and demand denial of the information. In such case we will see the credibility of ABC’s so-called sources. They either misled or the channel will have to say B after saying A, i.e., provide more facts to corroborate the statements. Or apologize for misleading the public”.

The Committee’s Chairman, MP Azubalis stated that relevant Lithuanian institutions had already investigated the matter and delivered a verdict declaring that the secret CIA facilities did not exist on the Lithuanian soil.  Furthermore, Lithuania’s airports were not used in neither way to facilitate transportation of the al Qaida suspects.

The investigation was commissioned after the request from the European Parliamentary Assembly.  Additionally, investigations from the European Union Commission and from the European Parliament took place in Lithuania which confirmed the above mentioned facts.

The Russian TV channel Russia Today claims to know the location of the secret CIA prison in Lithuania.

According to the ABC News report on 20 August, a Secret CIA prison allegedly operated in Lithuania until 2005. The report claims that a secret facility was located close by capital Vilnius and operated for a year. All possible Lithuania’s officials concerned denied those allegations.

The Deputy Speaker Sukys said; ‘An independent parliamentary investigation could provide clear answers to those allegations in order to prevent further discrediting of Lithuania’s name on the international arena and prevent from spreading of unnecessary rumours in the world.’

Lietuvos Rytas daily has published an article today quoting Mr John Sifton, the head of the human rights research organization One World Research, saying that he had no reasons to doubt the ABC News report, saying that the TV channel had provided truthful information on the topic so far.

The same paper quotes Mr. Tom Parker, The director for terrorism, counter-terrorism and human rights at Amnesty International saying that Lithuania should start an investigation and find out what had been happening.

The station informed that the Lithuanian officials had provided the CIA with a building on the outskirts of Vilnius, where as many as 8 suspects were held for more than a year after 9/11 until late 2005. The ABC News website stated that ‘Former CIA officials directly involved or briefed on the highly classified program tell ABC News that Lithuanian officials provided the CIA with a building on the outskirts of Vilnius, the country’s capital, where as many as eight suspects were held for more than a year, until late 2005 when they were moved because of public disclosures about the program.’

The officials in Vilnius deny those allegations as rumours and a ‘fantasy’. The President Grybauskaite said during a press conference on August 21 and was quoted by Delfi.lt “I have information that this never took place, and, as you well understand, I’m not likely to encounter any data indicating otherwise. I have no data, but the reports are unpleasant indeed, and it is very bad news to have Lithuania’s name associated with such events that took place five years back. Any reference to Lithuania in this context is no good in terms of the international context”.

“The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies any rumours or fiction about secret US prisons that allegedly operated in the territory of Lithuania,” the ministry’s spokesman Rolandas Kacinskas told BNS on Friday morning.

“I heard the report yesterday. It is news to me. Over my term in office, nobody has spoken to me and I have not heard from anyone. I do not know whether it is a myth of a conscious provocation but this is something I do not know about,” the former President Adamkus told Delfi.lt on August 21.

“I can make an official statement – this is the first time I’ve heard about it. As the then prime minister, I did not know anything about such things in Lithuania. This is a fantasy,” the former Prime Minister Brazauskas said in comment of the ABC News report.

The former Army Chief Gen. Tutkus and the former Seimas Speaker Mr Paulauskas has also denied those reports.

Delfi.lt reported that before the court hearing prosecutor made a request that the court proceedings were held behind closed doors. The prosecutor was referring to a letter from Lithuania’s State Security Department which warns about possible threats during the public hearings to one of the key witnesses identified as Michael Robert Jardine. It came out that Mr Jardine was a British agent working for MI-5.

Prosecutor Mindaugas Bliuvas refereeing to the department’s letter claimed that Mr Jardine is wanted by members of the RIRA and that his life could be in danger. The prosecutor demanded that court hearings should be held behind closed doors.

“During the hearing, I mentioned all reasons behind my request to do this. The main instance is efforts to protect one of the key witnesses in the criminal case (…). The court was presented with data provided by the State Security Department of the Republic of Lithuania that the person could be in real danger,” the prosecutor told BNS after the hearing.

Campbell’s defence lawyer Ingrida Botyriene said that Jardine was currently serving in Britain’s secret service MI-5. In her words, defense possessed information, suggesting that prior to employment in the secret service the person was involved in criminal activities, namely, smuggling.

As the Delfi.lt informed the court ruled to hold closed hearings during the interrogation of Jardine and other anonymous witnesses, however, the rest of the process will be open to public. Campbell had requested public hearings.

BNS reports that investigation of evidence will be started in October. In the prosecutor’s words, the case involves at least six secret witnesses.

If found guilty of attempted smuggling, possession of firearms and attempted supply of support to a terrorist group, Campbell will face up to 20 years in prison.