Antaviliai is a neighborhood of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, capital of

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. It is located northwest of the city center, on the northern edge of

Antakalnis Antakalnis (''literally'' lt, 'the place on hills', adapted in pl, Antokol) is an eldership in the Vilnius city municipality, Lithuania. Antakalnis is one of the oldest, and largest historical suburbs of Vilnius City. It is in the eastern s ...

eldership. It was a separate village until in 1969 it was incorporated into the Vilnius city limits. The United States

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

built a

black site In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with a ...

there in 2004.

Black site

In November 2009,

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

journalists Matthew Cole and Brian Ross published a story about a CIA prison in Antaviliai. The property was originally acquired by two Lithuanian families in 1999. They established an

equestrian center An equestrian facility is created and maintained for the purpose of accommodating, training or competing equids, especially horses. Based on their use, they may be known as a barn, stables, or riding hall and may include commercial operations descr ...

and a cafe, but the business was not doing well and in March 2004 the property was sold to Elite LLC, subsidiary of Star Group Finance & Holdings, Inc. registered in Delaware. The new owners carried out extensive reconstruction, including a new electrical wiring based on 110 V

electrical grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

used in the United States. According to ABC News, the prison operated from September 2004 to November 2005 and up to 8 prisoners were held there. It is believed that Antaviliai facility is referred to as Detention Site Violet in the

Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture The Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program is a report compiled by the bipartisan United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) about the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s Detent ...

. The report indicates that Violet was closed in 2006 due to lack of medical care to its detainees. In 2007, the site became property of the

State Security Department of Lithuania The State Security Department or VSD ( lt, Valstybės saugumo departamentas) is a Lithuanian intelligence agency which collects information on threats to the national security and works to eliminate those threats. The VSD also conducts counter ...

and is used as a training facility. Upon the news reports,

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

(Lithuanian parliament) launched an inquiry and the Prosecutor's Office opened a pre-trial investigation. In January 2011, the investigation was closed as it concluded that the site was not used as a prison but its real purpose could not be disclosed due to state secrets. However, in July 2011

Abu Zubaydah Abu Zubaydah ( ; , ''Abū Zubaydah''; born March 12, 1971, as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn) is a Saudi Arabian currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He is held under the authority of Authorization for Use ...

sued Lithuania in the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

over his detention in Lithuania between February 2005 and March 2006. In January 2014, Lithuanian court ordered the Prosecutor's Office to investigate claims by

Mustafa al-Hawsawi Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi ( ar, مصطفى احمد ادم هوساوي; born August 5, 1968) is a Saudi Arabian citizen. He is alleged to have acted as a key financial facilitator for the September 11 attacks in the United States. Mustafa ...

that he was detained in Antaviliai sometime between September 2004 and September 2006.

References

Neighbourhoods of Vilnius Black sites {{VilniusCounty-geo-stub