01/04/2008 President
“It is not true that security is more important than freedom,” said PACE President Lluis Maria de Puig, concluding a conference on anti-terrorist measures and human rights in Athens on Friday. “As soon as you restrict freedom, this itself becomes an element of insecurity.”
Fighting terrorism with illegal and inhuman actions only leads to barbarism, he pointed out, criticising the complicity of European governments in abuses discussed at the conference, such as secret detention, illegal renditions and unfair terrorist blacklisting procedures.
Mr de Puig also called for full parliamentary scrutiny of intelligence services to ensure they followed human rights principles, and called on governments to be more open with the media on their anti-terrorist activities.