- 11 At Athens airport holding centre, allegations were received that some 18 days prior to the delegation’s visit five police officers had entered one of the three rooms accommodating asylum seekers at 3 a.m, carrying batons, and made them line up in a row. Subsequently, the officers called the name of each man who had to step forward and take down his trousers. The men alleged that they were verbally insulted and intimidated, and that one person was punched in the chest and another kicked. Apparently, this incident took place in front of several young children and their mothers, who were also being held in the room at the time. Allegedly these five officers regularly acted in an intimidating manner towards detained persons in the facility. The CPT recommends that the Greek authorities take rigorous action to counter any acts of ill-treatment being committed; that action should include instigating investigations into all allegations of ill-treatment. Further, all police officers should be reminded that any illtreatment will be the subject of severe penalties. 3. Conditions of detention a. police detention facilities in the Evros region 16. The CPT’s delegation visited the police and border guard stations of Alexandroupolis, Feres, Neo Himonia, Soufli and Tychero, and the special holding facility of Filakio. All these establishments have previously been visited by the Committee, most recently during the 2009 visit. Regrettably, hardly a single recommendation put forward by the CPT to improve the situation appeared to have been implemented and, at the time of the 2011 visit, the conditions of detention had in all respects deteriorated in the above-mentioned facilities. 17. The Soufli Police and Border Guard Station contained a separate single-storey building used for detention purposes. The building consisted of two narrow dormitories separated by a partition, each containing a raised platform running the length of the room upon which detained persons could sleep. There was a small common area providing access to a shower room and a toilet. The total area of the detention area is 110m². On the day of the delegation’s visit, 146 men (including some male juveniles) were being held in the facility; access to the dormitories required walking over bodies as every square centimetre of floor space was occupied. A few detained persons were even sleeping in the space between the ceiling of the shower and the roof structure9. The smell of stale body odour was overwhelming10. There was only one functioning toilet and one shower with cold water for the 146 occupants (many persons told the delegation that in the morning they urinated in bottles or in plastic bags); artificial lighting and ventilation were very poor; no access to outdoor exercise was provided; the food was insufficient and the delegation received allegations that groups of strong detainees prevented some irregular migrants from eating their allotted portions of food. Some 65 persons had been held in the facility for more than four weeks and 13 for longer than three and a half months. 9 10 Access was gained through clambering up the shower door and entering the space through a missing wall panel. Irregular migrants did not have access to their belongings and could not change their clothes – see also paragraph 28.