- 12 II. FACTS FOUND DURING THE VISIT AND ACTION PROPOSED A. Treatment of persons detained by the police 1. Preliminary remarks 12. In the course of the 2013 visit, the CPT’s delegation visited a number of establishments under the authority of the Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection charged with holding persons suspected of committing a crime (regional police headquarters and stations, transfer centres), certain of them for the first time.3 It also interviewed recent arrivals in the prisons visited in relation to their treatment by the police. 13. The relevant provisions of the Greek Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code concerning detention of criminal suspects by law enforcement authorities have not changed since the CPT’s last visit to Greece in January 2011. The detention of a criminal suspect on the sole authority of law enforcement officials may last for a maximum of 24 hours. During this initial period, a public prosecutor may confirm the detention and refer the case to the competent judge; in general, detained persons are brought before the prosecutor prior to such a decision being taken. Within three days thereafter, the competent judge must decide whether to release the person or remand him/her in custody. Upon application by the person, or in exceptional circumstances, this time-limit can be extended by two more days. In consequence, a criminal suspect may, in principle, remain in the custody of a law enforcement agency for a maximum of six days following arrest. These rules apply equally to other agencies, such as the Coast Guard and Customs authorities, to the extent that they exercise law enforcement powers involving the possibility of depriving persons of their liberty. However, due to the overcrowding in many prisons, persons remanded in custody, or even sentenced, could continue to be detained for months on end in police stations; the figure stood at 756 persons at the time of the visit.4 2. Ill-treatment 14. The treatment of persons detained by law enforcement officials has been a focus of the CPT’s activities in Greece since its first visit to the country in 1993. In the course of each visit, CPT delegations have received numerous allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials. The corresponding visit reports have highlighted a number of cases as examples in order to draw the attention of the authorities to the practice of ill-treatment by the Greek police. The examples of cases of alleged ill-treatment were intended to alert the authorities to the problem and to urge them to investigate thoroughly the prevalence of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials in order to take concerted action to combat this phenomenon. 3 4 Namely, the police and border guard stations of Iasmos, Igoumenitsa, Ioaninna, Larissa, as well as the Metagogon (Transfer) Centre in Thessaloniki. Press conference by the Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, on 3 April 2013 in Athens.