Poland ex-Spy Chief 'Charged over Alleged CIA Secret Prison'

Poland has charged its former spy chief as part of a probe into claims it hosted a CIA "black site" where suspected al-Qaida members were allegedly tortured, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The Gazeta Wyborcza said former intelligence Chief Zbigniew Siemiatkowski had confirmed to the paper that he had been charged.

"The investigation... is being conducted under state secrecy laws and it must remain confidential," said Piotr Kosmaty, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Krakow which is handling the probe.

But he added: "No arrest has been made as part of the probe".

Polish prosecutors launched an investigation in August 2008 into allegations that Warsaw had allowed the U.S. intelligence service to operate a secret prison on its soil.

But the government has repeatedly rejected the claims, which have been made by human rights groups, lawyers of the purported victims, a Council of Europe investigation as well as in media reports.

Polish campaigners said in July that they had obtained official records about seven CIA planes -- five of them carrying passengers -- which landed in 2002 and 2003 at Szymany, a Polish military base in northeast Poland.

The Council of Europe has said the Polish site, opened in December 2002, held several so-called "high-value detainees", including suspects of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.