6. Detention and detention centres 35 we thought: ›Please don’t ever let this fingerprinting end so I will not have to return to the cell!‹ They took our fingerprints four times, four times each finger – on a paper. Unfortunately, after that it was over. At the same time, there were also two men in the same office interviewing refugees – one Greek and another one who spoke English. The Afghan detainee, who was translating, explained to us that they were interviewing them to find out their true nationality. Some of them claimed they were Palestinians, but the police did not believe them. They did not interview us. We only had to give basic information such as our names and age. The last day of my detention, they came to our cell and started counting us. They had to repeat it five times, because they had different results each time, so they went mad and started shouting and kicking the cardboard beds and the walls. My brother was in the bathroom at that time, he was taking a shower. The policemen started shouting at him to get out. They finally counted 92 persons in one cell. ›How can they be so many,‹ one of the officers wondered. In the whole detention centre 250 people were held. We were told that we’ve been lucky. Sometimes the number of detainees had reached 400. When this happens, everybody is standing, nobody can even sit. Once they brought some people that could not stay because there was not enough space for them. Apparently they moved them to another place. Another day, I heard voices in the night. The next morning I asked if they brought new people, but they said no. One day, while we were in detention, they took two Iranian guys, but they brought them back after one hour. They told us later, that they were brought close to the border at the river, and that the Greek police tried to deport them to Turkey but the Turkish police did not accept them back. We were released around 11 o’clock, others in the afternoon. They always release people when the prison becomes too overcrowded, that’s the rule. The police were so impatient to send us away, that when we were released they didn’t even let us tie our shoelaces. ›Go, go, go,‹ they were yelling. We had to get ready in the outside area of the police station. […] If we tell you all our problems, there won’t be enough space in your notebook.« It was also very difficult for women detainees. We were many people and most of us men. Some detainees were harassing women all the time. […] People were fighting for everything, for basic things like a sleeping place, food, soap, access to the phone… everything! I missed looking up into the sky. When I was feeling really bad, I waited for nice police officers to take the shift and begged them to let me take the garbage out. Then I could breathe some fresh air for a few moments. […] Twice I started thinking about how to commit suicide, but I didn’t.«103 6.3.4. Fylakio detention centre 103 H.H. from Iran; April 21, 2011 – Athens 104 Farsana from Afghanistan; August 2010 – Alexandroupolis (name changed) 105 Greek law (Article 81(1) of Law 3386/2005) provides that the special centres should be established through a Joint Decision of the Minister of Interior, Economy and Finance, the Minister of Health and Solidarity, and the Minister of Public Order. This Joint Decision shall also determine the standards and terms of operation of the centres. The status of the existing immigration detention centres (such as Fylakio) remains undefined, since the majority, if not all of them, have been established and operate without the adoption of a Joint Ministerial Decision. The absence of a Ministerial Decision has also resulted in the lack of standards and terms of operation for the existing detention centres. See also: Hellenic League for Human Rights 2009: »Report about the detention centre in Evros and Rodopi«: p. 11. http://184.107.130.30//files/EKTHESI_NEW2010[1].pdf; Amnesty International 2010: Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions: p. 35. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR25/002/ 2010/en/07291fb2-dcb8-4393-9f13-2d2487368310/ eur250022010en.pdf 106 http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/grc/2010-33-inf-eng.pdf 107 Anonymus; November 7, 2010 – Fylakio. Half an hour driving distance from Orestiada is the Fylakio detention centre. It was built in 2007 and serves as a »Special Holding Facility for Illegal Migrants« (ΕΧΑ).105 Fylakio is situated in the middle of nowhere. While the detention centre officially holds 374 inmates, the CPT (European Committee for the Prevention of Torture) concluded that it was constructed for not more than 188 detainees.106 »We were around 400 persons inside. It was horrible. Today they released us. In total they released around 90 refugees today. There are still more than 120 children in there. They already keep them for almost a month.«107 With an average