The candidate for the post of the head of the Pentagon, retired American General Lloyd Austin, announced the need to close the American prison at Guantanamo. He expressed this position while answering questions from members of the Senate Committee on the Armed Forces, TASS reports.
“I believe it's time for Guantanamo to close its doors,” Austin said. He promised that, if approved, he would develop a plan for further action with respect to the remaining 40 people held there.
According to the retired general, the Pentagon should provide them with legal assistance and humane treatment. In addition, the new US administration does not intend to send new people to the prison and will seek to close it, he assured.
Guantanamo Bay is a camp for persons suspected by the US authorities of various crimes, mainly terrorism, waging war on the side of the enemy. It is located at a permanently leased naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
On January 21, 2009, then-US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to dissolve the prison. The camp was supposed to close within a year, but the decision was not enforced. In early 2018, US President Donald Trump signed an order to preserve the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
