Poland and Romania were cited on the running of secret detention centres; Germany, Turkey, Spain and Cyprus for being "staging points" for flights; Ireland, Britain, Portugal, Greece and Italy for being "stopovers."

Fourteen European countries colluded in a "global spider's web" of secret CIA prisons and transfers of terrorism suspects, a European rights watchdog said in a report released on Wednesday.

European states played an active or passive role in the network run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and were not unwitting victims of the operation, the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe said in the report on its Web site.

"It is now clear -- although we are still far from having established the whole truth -- that authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities," Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty said.

"Other countries ignored them knowingly, or did not want to know," he stated in the conclusions of the 65-page report.

The report fingered a number of states for collusion with CIA secret flights and secret transfers known as renditions. They include: Poland and Romania on the running of secret detention centres, Germany, Turkey, Spain and Cyprus for being "staging points" for flights involving the unlawful transfer of detainees, Ireland, Britain, Portugal, Greece and Italy for being "stopovers" for flights involving the unlawful transfer of detainees, Sweden, Bosnia, Britain, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Germany and Turkey were cited in relation to cases involving specific individuals.

Marty said more cases could yet come to light.

Evidence

The former Swiss investigating magistrate denied setting himself up as judge and jury, saying hard evidence was "still not forthcoming".

However, he affirmed there were "a number of coherent and converging elements (that) indicated that secret detention centres have indeed existed and unlawful inter-state transfers have taken place in Europe".

The Council of Europe, a pan-European body, has struggled to gain information from its member states and while it can name and shame countries it cannot launch legal proceedings.

The allegations of CIA abuses, first made by newspapers and human rights groups late last year, fanned concerns in Europe about U.S. anti-terror tactics. But European governments are now under scrutiny due to mounting evidence they at best turned a blind eye to illegal activities.

Washington insists it acted with the full knowledge of the governments concerned, acknowledges the secret transfer of some terrorist suspects between countries and denies any wrongdoing.

EU investigators said last month they believed 30 to 50 people had been handed over by the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.

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