BRUSSELS, Jan. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- European governments have silently condoned the practice of abducting suspected terrorists and transporting them from European airports to countries in which torture is used, according to an interim report of the Council of Europe (CoE).

    "It has been proved - and in fact never denied - that individuals have been abducted, deprived of their liberty and transported ... in Europe, to be handed over to countries in which they have suffered ... torture," a Swiss senator said Tuesday at the CoE headquarters in Strasbourg, France.

    Dick Marty, who is also the chief investigator in the CoE probeinto alleged U.S. seizures of foreign prisoners and the existence of secret U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) detention centersin Europe, is presenting his work to the assembly of the Council of Europe.

    "It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware of the 'rendition' of more than a hundred persons affecting Europe," he said.

    Marty added there was "a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of 'relocation' or 'outsourcing' of torture."

    However, he also acknowledged that there was no formal, irrefutable evidence at this stage of the existence of secret CIA detention centers in Romania, Poland or any other country.

    The Strasbourg-based CoE launched the probe last year after allegations emerged about the secret CIA prisons.

    Following a Washington Post report in November that the CIA used camps in East European countries to interrogate terrorist suspects, the New York-based Human Rights Watch named Romania and Poland as possible hosts of the US prisons.

    Both Romania and Poland have denied the claims.

    Washington has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations that the prisons existed in Europe but has denied using or condoning torture.

    EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has said that EU memberstates and candidate countries such as Romania could face sanctions if the allegations are found to be true.

    The European Parliament set up a temporary committee last week to investigate CIA activities in European airspace and territory.

    The 46-member committee will collect and analyze information totry to find out whether the alleged prisons exist, if European citizens have been abducted and whether European governments knew about them.

    The committee plans to summon high-ranking politicians and national intelligence officials for hearings in Brussels during spring.

    But some EU legislators doubt the summoned parties will come to Brussels for questioning, as the committee has no statutory power and cannot oblige anybody to attend a hearing. Enditem