POLAND has become the first jurisdiction to suffer the consequences of taking part in the American government's secret detention and torture programme, which was launched in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. The European Court of Human Rights published a verdict today finding that Poland had allowed America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to operate a so-called “black site” detention facility at Stare Kiejkuty, an air base in north-eastern Poland, where the Americans held prisoners snatched up as part of its global war against Islamic terrorism.

“The treatment to which the applicants had been subjected by the CIA during their detention in Poland had amounted to torture,” found the unanimous ruling by the seven-judge panel. It added that although Polish authorities were probably not aware of what the Americans were doing on the base, the Poles should have ensured that anyone being held on Polish territory was being treated properly.

The Strasbourg-based tribunal castigated Poland for its drawn-out investigation of the accusations. The Polish probe, launched in 2008, has still not been completed. The court also found that Poland should pay the two applicants in the case €100,000 ($135,000) in damages, and should intervene with the American authorities to ensure that one of the men does not face the death penalty in an eventual American trial. These rulings are not final; the Polish foreign ministry called them “premature”, saying that the Polish investigation was ongoing.

The two applicants in the case were a Saudi national, Abd Al Rahim Al Nashiri, and a Saudi-born Palestinian, Zayn Al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, also known as Abu Zubaydah. Mr Al Nashiri is suspected of planning the attack on an American navy vessel, the USS Cole, in 2000, as well as helping in the September 11th attacks. He is being held at the American base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is due to go on trial in September, where he could face the death penalty. Mr Husayn is accused of being a senior member of al-Qaeda and is also being held at Guantanamo Bay. The court awarded him an additional €30,000 for costs and expenses.

The two were grabbed by the CIA and held in Poland from 2002-2003, where both men allege they were subjected to torture. The treatment included sleep deprivation, being held in stress positions and mock executions. Mr Husayn said he had been threatened with a power drill and a handgun, as well as with having his mother captured and sexually abused in front of him.

“The ruling is of landmark significance for ending impunity with respect to abuses associated with the rendition programme,” said Amrit Singh, who heads the Open Society Justice Initiative's work on human rights abuses. The group brought the case on behalf of Mr Al Nashiri. Joanna Trzaska-Wieczorek of the Polish president's office called the ruling “a shameful verdict for Poland”.

Poland has been trying to rid itself of the taint of the CIA programme ever since it was first revealed by the Washington Post, an American daily, in 2005. Along with other European countries, Poland was swept up in a wave of revulsion at Islamic terrorism following the September 11th attacks. The Americans seem to have favoured central European countries for their operations. Detention facilities allegedly also existed in Romania and Lithuania. However, the secret prisons have since become an enormous embarrassment to countries that now belong to the European Union.

Senior officials of the Polish government at the time continue to insist that their country did nothing wrong. Leszek Miller, who was prime minister in 2002-2003, called the tribunal's verdict unfair and immoral. “It is based on gossip and innuendo, and places the rights of murderers higher than those of the victims,” he said at a press conference. Earlier this year, Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former president, claimed that “the responsibility for what happened inside the base lies with the American side". The tribunal did not agree, making Poland the first country to face a penalty for America’s torture methods.