Slovakia Offers to Accept 3 Guantanamo Detainees

Slovakia is the seventh EU country to offer to accept a small number of Guantanamo detainees, to assist in speeding up the closure of the detention center. Photo by BGNES

Slovakia has become the seventh EU country to offer to help speed up the closure of Guantanamo Bay by accepting three detainees.

In making this announcement on Thursday, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak gave assurances that "the security of Slovak citizens won’t be endangered".

US diplomat to Slovakia Keith Eddins said on Slovakia Radio that "the three detainees coming to Slovakia have been judged to no longer be a threat, are not prosecutable or subject to any kind of further proceedings," adding, "at the same time we weren't in a position to release them to their home country. We needed to find some place for them to go." He did not disclose the detainees' nationalities.

A security expert, however, said that there was no way of knowing whether the three prisoners posed a threat to Slovakia.

"No one knows whether these people were serious criminals or terrorists, meaning that they are potential criminals and terrorists," he commented.

Barack Obama had promised to close the detention centre during his presidential election campaign. In one of his first acts as President, he ordered the facility closed, calling it "a sad chapter in American history".

Spain announced recently that it would accept at least two former prisoners. Bulgaria has also announced in December that it was considering accepting one or two prisoners.

Bulgarian officials however had cautioned that Bulgaria's participation would be small, and people who might pose a threat to national security would be not accepted.

US officials announced last week that Guantanamo Bay would now be used to house homeless refugees from earthquake-shattered Haiti.

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