Court (PRO ASYL et al 2012; HRW 2013). Based on testimonies heard in this case, it appears that returnees from Italy are usually detained in a facility in the Igoumenitsa port (HRW 2013). Asylum seekers who are transferred to Greece from other EU countries under the Dublin Regulation are detained for the time necessary to process and verify fingerprints. Previously, detention of Dublin returnees generally lasted four days. However since most EU countries suspended transfers in the wake of the European rulings, detention periods reportedly dropped to a few hours, though they are expected to increase if the transfers pick up again (AITIMA 2012). Asylum advocates have claimed that this procedure is unlawful because it cannot be justified on any of the grounds for detention provided in Presidential Decree 114/2010. Moreover, authorities do not issue detention orders in such cases, apparently because police consider such persons as under surveillance and not in detention (AITIMA 2012). Length of detention. The maximum permissible length of detention has repeatedly been extended. In 2009, the maximum limit was increased from three to six months. In 2011, after the transposition of the Returns Directive, the maximum was increased to 18 months. Then, in early 2014, the Greek Legal Council issued an advisory opinion allowing police to extend the length of detention beyond 18 months and potentially indefinitely in cases where detainees refuse to cooperate in their removal proceedings. One expert in Greece told the Global Detention Project that in practice it will be up to the “discretion of higher ranking police officials whether … to extend the detention or not in each case” (Angeli 2014). Before the issuance of 2014 advisory opinion, Greece had adopted the norms provided in the Returns Directive providing for an initial six-month period in detention, which could be extended to up to 18 months if (1) the detainee refused to cooperate or (2) there were delays in obtaining the necessary documents from the country of origin or of residence (Law 3386/2005, article 76(3); Law 3907/2011, article 30(5)-(6)). The duration of detention of asylum seekers was also extended recently. Until 2012, asylum applicants could be detained for a maximum of three or six months, depending on whether the person applied for international protection after being detained (Presidential Decree 114/2010, article 13(4)). With Presidential Decree 116/2012, the maximum length of detention was extended to eighteen months. This has prompted enormous criticism, including from the Greek Council for Refugees, which called on the Greek Council of the State to repeal the 18-month maximum (GCR 2014; ICJ and ECRE 2013). Following a January 2013 visit, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) stressed that “the imprisonment of a migrant or an asylum seeker for up to 18 months, in conditions that are sometimes found to be even worse than in the regular prisons, could be considered as a punishment imposed on a person who has not committed any crime. This appears to be a serious violation of the principle of proportionality which may render the deprivation of liberty arbitrary.” In addition, in line with the opinion voiced by various NGOs, the Working Group found that prolonged detention can function as deterrent 7