The purpose of the visit was twofold. One was to examine the situation of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under aliens’ legislation and to determine whether their situation since the previous visits in 2016 had improved. To this end, the delegation visited several pre-departure centres, one reception and identification centre and a number of police stations, with a focus on the Evros region, the Aegean islands and Attica. Second, for the first time since 2005, the CPT looked into the situation of civil and forensic psychiatric patients in psychiatric establishments in the Attica area.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to Ioannis Balafas, Alternate Minister for Migration Policy, Dimitrios Anagnostakis, Secretary General for Public Order, Giorgos Giannopoulos, Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, and Eftychios Fytrakis, Secretary General for Crime Policy of the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, and Hellenic Police Lieutenant General Zacharoula Tsirigoti, Inspector General for Aliens and Border Protection, as well as other senior officials from the above-mentioned Ministries and from the Hellenic Police.
In the course of the visit, the delegation also held consultations with Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Deputy Ombudsman for Human Rights and Head of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), as well as with representatives of international and non-governmental organisations active in the areas of concern to the CPT.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:
- Georg Høyer (Head of delegation)
- Alan Mitchell
- Jari Pirjola
- Ilvija Pūce
- Olivera Vulić.
They were supported by Caterina Bolognese and Sebastian Rietz of the CPT’s Secretariat, and assisted by an expert, Andres Lehtmets, Head of the Centre of Psychiatry, West Tallinn Central Hospital (Estonia).
The delegation visited the following places:
Immigration detention facilities:
- Amygdaleza Pre-departure centre, Athens
- Fylakio Pre-departure centre, Evros
- Fylakio Reception and Identification Centre, Evros
- Moria Pre-departure centre, Lesvos
- Pyli Pre-departure centre, Kos
Police and Border Guard Stations:
- Drapetsona Police Station, Piraeus
- Feres Police and Border Guard Station, Evros
- Isaakio Police and Border Guard Station, Evros
- Kolonos Police Station, Athens
- Neo Cheimonio Police and Border Guard Station, Evros
- Omonia Police Station, Athens
- Soufli Police and Border Guard Station, Evros
Psychiatric establishments:
- Dromokaiteio Psychiatric Hospital, Athens
- Psychiatric unit at Evangelismos Hospital, Athens
- Psychiatric unit at Gennimatas Hospital, Athens
- Psychiatric unit at Sotiria Hospital, Athens
- Athina Vrilissia Private Psychiatric Clinic, Athens
- Korydallos Prison Psychiatric Hospital.
