- 36 C. Treatment of criminal suspects detained by the police 1. Preliminary remarks 81. The CPT reviewed the treatment of criminal suspects detained at the moment of apprehension and subsequently while they were being detained in police stations, including as regards the effectiveness of the safeguards in place to prevent ill-treatment. For this purpose, the CPT’s delegation visited a number of police establishments in the regions of Attica, Central Greece, Evros, Macedonia and Peloponnesus and also went to several prisons (such as Thessaloniki and Tripoli) to interview inmates recently remanded in custody (see Appendix II for the list of establishments visited). 2. Ill-treatment 82. The CPT’s delegation received many allegations of ill-treatment of criminal suspects detained by the police, particularly in the Thessaloniki area. A few persons alleged that they had been ill-treated at the moment of apprehension after having been brought under control. However, the vast majority of persons met by the delegation alleged that the ill-treatment took place while they were being interrogated by members of the Security Police (i.e. criminal investigation officers). The allegations mostly concerned slaps, kicks and punches and some of them were supported by medical findings. For instance, a man interviewed at Thessaloniki Monasteriou Police Station alleged that he had been punched in the face during an interrogation a few days prior to the delegation’s visit; he displayed a dark blue bruise around the right eye. 83. The CPT’s delegation also received some allegations of ill-treatment of a particularly severe nature involving blows with sticks, baseball bats and batons to the body including the soles of the feet. Two specific allegations concerned one detained person being struck with a heavy one-metre long metal cutter while being held in Polygiros Police Station a few months before the visit, and of another person receiving shocks from an electric prod during police interrogation at Hania Police Station in 2009. Further, one detained person met by the delegation at Korydallos Prison alleged that he had been asphyxiated by means of a manual hold until he lost consciousness, while being interrogated by police on the 12th floor of Athens Alexander Street Police Headquarters, in April 2010. In this connection, the CPT’s delegation has been made aware of reports in the Greek media of a similar incident of police ill-treatment, which took place on 13 January 2011 and also concerned police officers based on the12th floor of Athens Alexander Street Police Headquarters.