The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has just completed a five-day rapid reaction visit to Greece to examine the way in which persons attempting to enter the country and detained by the Hellenic Police or Coast Guard have been treated, notably since 1st March, when the processing of asylum requests was suspended.
During the visit, which took place between 13 and 17 March, the CPT’s delegation looked into the
conditions of detention of migrants, including pregnant women and families with young children and infants. It visited police and border guard stations and other long-term facilities in the Evros region. It also visited certain quasi-official places of detention and examined allegations of “push-backs” across the Evros river by certain Greek forces. In addition, the new detention camp at Malakasa (Attica) was visited on the day it entered into service, in order to speak with a large number of persons who had been detained aboard a vessel for two weeks in Mytilini Harbour. Lastly, the delegation visited 93 persons held in two cells under the responsibility of the Hellenic Police on the Coastguard Premises in Samos.
