taken for the improvement of the detention conditions in the facilities the CPT
visited. (e.g. installation of new insulation in the Piraeus Alien Department,
installation of artificial light to the Acropolis Police Department etc).10 In its
response regarding the 2008 Report it followed the same approach. 11 Nevertheless,
we should note that some of its responses to the CPT observations are either not
persuasive or do not constitute a convincing excuse.
B) The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)
Greece was convicted for the first time by the ECtHR for violating article 3 in the
Dougoz case.12 Τhe Court held that the detention conditions in the Police
Department of Alexandras Avenue and the detention facility in Drapetsona and in
particular the great congestion and lack of sleeping conveniences combined with the
excessive duration of Dougoz’s detention under these conditions for ten and two
months respectively constituted humiliating treatment. In December 2009, the
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe closed this case considering that
Greece had taken the appropriate general measures for its compliance with the
Court’s decision.13
Unfortunately, in the last years, Greece has been convicted 6 times for
violating article 3 because of bad detention conditions. In the Kaja case14 the Court
ruled that “the detention space of the Security Sub-Division of Larissa was not an
appropriate space for such a long detention as the one that was imposed to the
petitioner and lasted for three months. From its own nature it is a space that should
be used for a short stay of the detainees. Because of its features, without a foreyard,
without internal infrastructure for the preparation and the supply of foodstuffs,
without radio or television in order for the detainee to be in contact with the outside
Response of the Government of Greece to the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to Greece from 20 to
27 February 2007, Strasbourg, 8 February 2008, CPT/Inf (2008) 4.
11 Response of the Government of Greece to the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to Greece from 23 to
29 September 2008, Strasbourg, 30 June 2009, CPT/Inf (2009) 21.
12 Dougoz v. Greece, Judgment of 6 March 2001.
13 Resolution CM/ResDH(2009)128.
14 Kaja v. Greece, Judgment of 27 July 2006.
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