well today we're joined by mr thomas hammer burke european commissioner for human rights talking to us from a star wars thanks very much mr however for joining us now let's get right to where well we know that there were cia prisons in europe and people were tortured and then now you're pushing for the truth what more should be know there is a lot more to know in fact because we haven't had a full account for what really happened and who took the decisions and on what grounds when these black sites were established on european soil of the things that we still have to know what do you think is most important i think we have to learn from history and unfortunately during this period of ten years very serious human rights violations for a committed and we have an atmosphere impunity when it comes to these violations of human rights i think the truce has to come out on board really happened who took

the decisions who allowed the establishment of these secret places of detention and thereby allowing torture to take place now this is a story came to light i mean there have been some governments ordering investigations will they found very little so far do you think it's possible that they're deliberately trying to play it down and if so is there any proof of them doing so well there is an enormous pressure from washington to keep all this secret in fact instructions from from cia with the support of the way towse not to give any facts on this so therefore it's not easy to investigate but i think that some of the european governments who have been involved they have to decide whether they think that the cooperation between the security agencies are more important than tech to look into human rights violations and break the transfer of impunity ok well we're talking here about european officials authorizing these rendition sites but what about those who actually. masterminded them those who were directly

involved do you think say officials will ever be held accountable for their actions unfortunately it's not likely but if the european governments involved could take this step to really put out everything they know and publish that it may start a process in united states where the accountability also there is established but why is it not likely you say this if it's not likely because this is there is an atmosphere of security confidentiality around this. notion that when it comes to the activities over security agency the truth should not be told to the public and i think that is a real problem because here we have had cooperation between the united states security agency and european agencies under which human rights violations were seriously seriously violated and it is very important that we know when we know that the violations were made that we establish that there should be

democratic control of the security agencies activities well there are claims that the u.s. and the u.k. sent prisoners to be tortured in libya to the gadhafi regime does that seem likely to you yes it's very likely and it fits a pattern and also they are now documents being discovered in tripoli which show that this actually did happen ok and you've seen a proof of such things happening yourself no not myself but there have been reports last week from human rights watch showing that there was such a vivid days and typically this is not made subject for comment from the cia in washington because they have the policy of never make and the public comments on such revelations of the commander of the rebel forces that's. shipley he demanded an apology from western powers over his. allegedly in two thousand and four and i

logically he was arrested in bangkok and headed to gadhafi forces for torture now how do you think they're going to explain their alleged a murky deals with gadhafi to the rebels because now they're essentially on the same side i think that question has to be given to to washington there is an explanation to be given there but he was obviously one of those who were picked up during this so-called war on terror he was in tandem or that's shown and he was obviously one of those who are badly treated and i think he and others this is an apology some of them who were brought there to count on him or or to the secret places of detention or to partner countries of the united states in this where they were tortured they were not probably not innocent but still even people who are on good ground suspected they have the right to certain protection when it comes to human rights including not to be tortured now the rebels are now in control and

foreigners are reportedly in danger especially black africans because while there have been accusations of them being cut off these mercenaries how do you think this will affect the building of a democratic society in libya you know i'm not an expert on they've been my focus is on europe but obviously there is a problem there and human rights organizations have already reported about problems when it comes to how rebels have dealt with africans who have been accused to being most news for folks we could just do best in order to ensure that those people are well treated some of them of course may well be genuine refugees from other parts of africa who were trying to reach europe past via libya and got stuck there and i think it's very important that also european governments deal with refugees from libya coming from other parts of africa in line with the international standards when it comes to asylum and. policies well looking at the humanitarian crisis now

in libya that has been reported what do you think is the area that needs the most attention at the moment and how are they going to going to go about solving these humanitarian problems i mean this is very general can we break them down here first of all it is important to establish security in the country so that the normal life could start again secondly to build democracy because there was no democracy there which is a very difficult challenge and i hope that there could be a generous approach from from europe to share the experiences we have when it comes to the steps to be taken in order to build institutions democratic ones and to allow for. genuine willow people to be channeled into political decision making ok well going back to what you're an expert on those black sites what do you think is the next step now that the story house come out into the public in poland they have already started through the prosecutor and investigation and i think it's very

important that his work is protected and that there is no attempt to slow down his work because he's sensitive when nations sleep with the united states in in romania their work hasn't really started there was one investigation by a political group from the senate but the prosecutor has not started an investigation and i really hope that office will now take the initiative and start and are rushing the situation and come up with a report now you're saying it's important that the investigation is not blocking earlier you were expressing your concerns that there could be directives from higher up to to not give enough information how do you go about going about that hurdle knowing you're dealing with governments here is very difficult because of this notion that activities by the security agencies and their cooperation between themselves should be kept secret at all cost i think that is really the notion that we have now. to start discussing because so many human rights violations have been

committed under that notion and the time has come to establish a democratic control of the security agencies they should not be allowed to take action which violate basic human rights yes should not be but do you think that just let's just look at concrete actions we're talking about what is right what is wrong from your point of view but concrete actions i'm just wondering really legally speaking will it be possible to get all of the truth out i think it will be very difficult unfortunately but i hope that the discussion that may come now with encourage some of the politicians to take brave steps and a better position when it comes to this because it's not acceptable that we have states within the states who are run on undemocratic basis and violating human rights the security agencies must be put under democratic control and they are not for the moment in my opinion well you said you're using the tenth anniversary of

nine eleven to raise the issue of cia black sites so why is that because. you know. i think that the first priority of course is to pay respect to the victims of the attack on the united states ten years ago but then we also have a to same time to look at how did the u.s. government and european governments respond to this attack and unfortunately i think there's a lot of lessons to be learned from how this war on terror so-called war on terror was conducted which allowed for very serious human rights violations which unfortunately also had the effect that terrorism has spread the militant groups have increased and the number of people killed and many of them innocent doing those ten years they also deserve some respect in this situation and therefore i think it's absolutely important that. the way we handled this gruesome

attack will be under an honest discussion so that we don't repeat this in the future and speaking of the militant groups you just released a report based on your visit to russia's north caucasus which is of course a region that marked by sporadic violence by terrorists how do you assess the struggle against the terrorists over there the struggle is still going on there have been some positive initiatives taken a lot of money has been put on budgets in order to improve the standard of living in the area. there is a focus more on the social dimension of this the roots for terrorism which i think is very positive but unfortunately there is still also a problem of impunity that the crimes which have been committed including by law enforcement forces have not been satisfactorily addressed and people guilty

responsible have not been brought to justice so there is still a need to do more when it comes to that aspect all right well thank you very much effort your time mr thomas howard berg human rights commissioner of the council of europe thank you thank you.

download the official t.m. placation. i pod touch from the. lights on the. video on demand r.t.s. mine old costs and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. questions on the dot com.

sports team perishes the country mourns after wednesday's plane crash near the city of jaroslava kills forty three including the members of one of russia's top ice hockey teams tragedy also touches other nations as players from many countries were

on board on their way to belarus for the first match of the seems only twenty years behind bars a russian pilot arrested in a u.s. sting operation in liberia sentenced for conspiring to smuggle drugs konstantin yoshiko insists on his innocence while moscow previously accused the u.s. of conducting legal arrest and rendition deal with british government under fire for halting an inquest into the death of a weapons expert david kelly who insisted iraq never had weapons of mass destruction the official cause of death of suicide is again being questioned by doctors. sports news next with andrew farmer. hello again and you are a very dramatic day in the russian sports world so ice hockey chiefs could postpone the start of the kitchell season after the locomotive tragedy it is not a look at that today the tributes have started to flood in more in the story just in a month. hello

there you're watching the sports and these other headlines. tributes pouring in from around the world forming the locomotive disaster which killed thirty seven ice hockey stars. plus will appeal strike a ballot in six games and for challenger to scout the place you go back in fear. and it's a book out at the u.s. open is reinhold place for second day of flushing meadows. tributes around the world are being made following the tragic crash which killed practically the whole of the locomotive yarra cybil ice hockey team thirty seven players were among the forty three people who died when the plane came down just after takeoff only one place survived russian alexander galley more but he's in a serious condition with eighty percent burns on the russian built forty two plane crashed into the river volga shortly after takeoff from the national airport

yesterday that is just outside iraq a mighty hometown of reality which is two hundred fifty kilometers northeast of moscow the team were heading to minsk for their first game of the new season chasuble today decide whether to spend matches in light of the tragedy to scar would you to host next year might you coursed receiving while yesterday's game between sam about you live and atlanta here was abandoned midway through hockey fans have been laying flowers at lokomotiv stadium those that died included russian player alexander jani and good night in chile are czech stars years of fast check and magic and kalar swedish goalie stefan leaf and latvian defenseman carlos as well as canadian coach brad mccrimmon ice hockey stars from the k h l and america's n.h.l. have been leading the tribute. she said they know it's history and not on me like it's all old country and a lot of my friends were in the play and the guys that played together a couple years ago and the closest one just i just want to give my condolences to

the families and with sweet stuff for everybody it's absolutely awful i mean it's already been a very difficult summer for for hockey players in the hockey world to suffer losses on down. you know a lot of these guys. you played against or you know you play with them in a certain point. and effects everybody is so you're a big family everyone knows each other and you know someone. you know in this league or in the sport worldwide so i mean whether they're hockey players or not that's a huge tragedy and it's awful that she's now. you know it's. going to those people muschamp terrible thing that happened. no one guy that ended up being on that plane and not one of my old coaches in atlanta for a minute. you know i know he's got a family with kids and much like so many other guys. you know something that's

crazy to think that it could happen but you know tragic. turning to for one ounce say they will appeal against a six game ban handed to their star striker velour he was given the punishment after this tackle on to. need ligament damage and six months of. the rest of the rest of the domestic season as well as his country's you're a twenty twelve qualifying campaign she years ago valentino. a couple of brazilian forward breaking. in a similar crash is now set to deputize back in five. who are joint top of the table . now is turn to the right has affected play for second day that defending champion rafael nadal was trailing by three games to love in the third set of his fourth round match against. one play

was stopped that clash was originally. put on hold until earlier on wednesday and it finally came through only to be delayed once again by elements also stop these trying to free down to marry against the surprise package american favorite andy roddick is also awaiting his match against the regime rafa nadal believes it was wrong to ask place to play at all. of this year especially you know. will feel protected enough for the input for the you know. this is with a lot of money. we are part of the show. just working for. us still they called us on court so that's that's possible. the court for forty five minutes but that really never stops so because there are four minutes with no after that we have to go down. for the

father. but you know. the. the players in this part of the show do and we don't feel protected everyone's pretty relaxed about it now it's just what we want on to the court it was still raining the back of the core was soaking wet and the bowls were really what. everyone the ice sports meant mentioned it. to the umpire and they were just. fine but it doesn't really make sense to be just trying to get there for like seven or eight minutes and then having to come back inside so i think that's kind of why everyone was a little bit disappointed and i don't think that will happen again. that moscow will host the modern pentathlon world championships from today and among the athletes preparing for the top alexander newson who only join the russian team three years ago constant but top off tells us why. russia has always been a powerhouse in the manse more than can tough three gold medals from the last three

olympics is the best evidence of the team's dominance and because of the depth of the nation still and the russians could field several teams in their own right and it will be a tough challenge for the coaches to choose the two athletes that will compete at the london olympics in twenty three well. there she said good morning to you and you know we're going we managed to save the training camps for some time after the soviet union collapsed we've invested one and a half million dollars in developing this campus and now it's one of the best in the world so we've also got a powerful squad the problem is that only two of our athletes can compete to be a lympics so we have very tight competition in the national team. and three years ago the russian team also acquired an unexpected reinforcement nowadays it's quite common for athletes to change their citizenship in order to get into brits unity to take part in big competitions but alexandr listen story is something completely

different the twenty three year old was born in belarus and got into sport by learning to swim when he was six but at the age of twenty one his life took a sudden change borderless thanks to. gordon of the bellerose team coach fell out with my former coach and the national coach wanted to get rid of me so you made up a fake diagnosis of heart disease and told me i was unsuitable for professional sport but there was a whole thing to him and i was that i quit sports and got a job because he's continually however like you he rushes coach eric see how plan of invited me to their training camp them with the book and made several examinations that prove i'm fully fit to compete so i sit here in russia fortunately listening got back into this. spork less than a year after he had and since then he has won the russian championship twice was a runner up at the world championship last year and tops the world rankings this season and the belorussian leads a very strong team that includes two world champions. and double olympic champion

andre me see that is all it is seen and it is a lot i worried so much when i got back to training before alex a two time olympic champion i've seen my save and wondered how can i become such a legendary athlete the level seem to be unreachable for me but i sold it to train with the team and the guys showed me how health a battle is hard to train every fencing touch every second game in swimming in running every full close right every accurate shot can make the difference between goes after its battling for a place at the olympic games out of the blue a bill russian has added more competition to the russian team while russia have gained and their fleet who looks set to dominate in the near future and could be a strong contender for them at the olympic games in london in twenty two well it's not about top of party so that brings us the end of the sport for the moment i'm back again you know the last time.

when you look for nuclear winter against. blondie's measured in barrels. when your brain is most. have no idea. the worldwide manhunt for him lasted for a fifteen year. one million year old war it was promised for

a scam. political must murder for the west. material for a man as a. general to serve in the army. rather . hard. on archie.

news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images. from the streets of canada. before asians rule the day. a sports team perishes and a nation mourns while the tragedy of the air disaster hitting one of russia's top

ice hockey teams is felt around the world. twenty years behind bars a russian pilot arrested in the u.s. sting operation in liberia sentenced for conspiring to smuggle drugs but moscow says his arrest and rendition were illegal. and the british government under fire for stopping an inquest into the death of weapons expert david kelly who insisted iraq never had weapons of mass destruction if initial cause of death of suicide again being questioned by doctors. nine am in moscow i met treasurer good to have you with us here on r t our top story it's been described as the worst tragedy affecting russian sports in the country's recent history the deadly plane crash near the city of jaroslav all deprived.