online platform set up to that end are not recognised as “applicants for international protection” and are denied the basic guarantees attached to that status, often for prolonged periods of time. As a result, applicants awaiting the date of their scheduled appointments at the RIC of Malakasa remain at risk of arbitrary deprivation of liberty and deportation from Greece. In case of arrest by the Hellenic Police, they are placed under pre-removal detention instead of being “directly transferred” to the RIC for the purpose of reception and identification procedures pursuant to the Asylum Code. 21 Furthermore, return and detention orders remain in force even where people demonstrate the receipt of their appointment request at the RIC. Case study: Nizar*, a refugee from Syria, requested an appointment to lodge his asylum application via the online platform in early January 2023 and received an appointment at the RIC of Malakasa for early March 2023. Three days later, he was arrested in Athens and was transferred to the pre-removal detention centre of Amygdaleza, despite having produced the appointment receipt before the police authorities. Nizar submitted objections against his return within the 48-hour deadline, where he stressed his asylum seeker status. However, the Aliens Directorate of Attica issued a return decision to Syria or Türkiye and prolonged his detention. The Aliens Directorate of Attica subsequently dismissed his appeal against the return decision without due motivation. Nizar remained in arbitrary detention for twelve days without being referred to the RIC or the Asylum Service for the lodging of his claim. He was eventually released after the Police ordered the postponement of his removal. The above practice has been declared contrary to the Asylum Code by the Administrative Court of Kavala, in a recent case involving a person detained, even though prior to his arrest he “had submitted online before the Ministry of Migration and Asylum application no… for the scheduling of registration of an asylum application, by which the date of registration of his application was set at… and in that manner expressed his intention to receive an international protection status. As a result, in accordance with the aforementioned provision of Article 65(8) of the Asylum Code, the applicant obtained the status of asylum seeker”, due to which no return decision may be issued against him.22 Prolonged delays Waiting times for the lodging of asylum applications on the mainland remains a structural problem of the Greek asylum system. Even the new uniform registration procedure is marred by undue delays well exceeding the maximum deadline of three working days for the “making” of an application set by law at least for “registration”. On the one hand, the Ministry of Migration and Asylum online platform does not offer an unlimited number of appointments. When a specific threshold of persons requesting 21 22 Article 38(1) Asylum Code. Administrative Court of Kavala, 164/2023, 7 February 2023. See Greek Council for Refugees, ‘Απόφαση του Διοικητικού Πρωτοδικείου κρίνει παράνομη την επιστροφή και κράτηση προσώπου που έχει αιτηθεί μέσω της online πλατφόρμας του Υπουργείου τον προγραμματισμό της πλήρους καταγραφής του αιτήματος ασύλου’, 16 February 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3YCrAW2. 5 RSA REPORT │ 2023