Nearly 20 years ago, mysterious activity began in the small settlement of Antaviliai, Lithuania, which included the arrival of containers filled with equipment for a secluded property under renovation. Muscular young men would jog through the surrounding forest at odd hours and shoo away anyone who came close to the security fence they had put up. This property, previously home to a horseback riding academy and cafe, was later revealed to be a secret C.I.A. detention and torture center known as Site Violet, one of three black sites the agency established in Eastern Europe after the 9/11 attacks.
In 2014, a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee uncovered the C.I.A.’s use of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” at Site Violet, which operated from February 2005 until October 2006. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in January that a secret prison code-named Site Violet had been located in Lithuania, although Lithuanian officials claimed it was not a prison. The court concluded that Lithuania had violated the European Convention on Human Rights due to its complicity in the C.I.A.’s secret detainee program.
Official secrecy and displays of loyalty to the United States have prevented Lithuania from openly acknowledging its role in C.I.A. torture, despite evidence and multiple investigations. The country’s dependence on the U.S. for security, sandwiched between Belarus and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, has hindered efforts to address the issue. Court cases and investigations have failed to uncover the truth about the millions of dollars provided by the C.I.A. to finance the secret prison in Lithuania, leading to a lack of accountability.
In 2009, Lithuania’s Parliament formed a committee to investigate the former black site in Antaviliai, which concluded that the State Security Department had received money for unspecified “joint actions” with inappropriate accounting practices. While evidence suggested detainees may have been brought into Lithuania secretly, the existence of a prison could not be definitively proven. The current president of Lithuania has hinted at the possibility of a secret prison existing in the country, calling for accountability and apologies from both Lithuania and the U.S.
The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Lithuania to pay compensation to victims of the C.I.A.’s secret detention program, including a Saudi citizen held in Lithuania. The country’s Justice Ministry plans to challenge new claims relating to Site Violet, arguing that the evidence of detainment in Lithuania is indirect. Despite pressure from the European Court and international scrutiny, Lithuania has been reluctant to fully acknowledge and address its involvement in the C.I.A.’s torture program, leading to ongoing controversy and legal challenges.
After the closure of Site Violet in late 2006, the property in Antaviliai was taken over by the Lithuanian security service and later handed to the state property agency. Instead of selling the site for redevelopment, it was turned over to the prison service for use as a training center, sparking outrage due to its dark history as a torture facility. With valuable real estate surrounding the property, its history as a C.I.A. black site continues to haunt the village of Antaviliai, where memories of the secretive activities that took place there still linger.
