visits, Frontex management was aware about the difficult conditions in the detention facilities.142 That Frontex decided despite this knowledge of “difficult conditions” to cooperate with Greece in exposing individuals to inhuman and degrading treatment can only be regarded as a breach of its legal obligations to respect the prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment. According to an article in the German magazine Der Spiegel, German police officers deployed as part of RABIT, stationed in Evros, criticized the harsh treatment of migrants. The article documents that the police officers saw migrants being forcefully handled and sometimes driven by gunshot into mine fields. The German officers reportedly added that after being arrested, people were placed in vans without seats or windows, and transported to detention centers where they were held in “absolutely degrading” conditions.143 The article said, “Because such methods and situations violate German law, the officer in charge has ordered that German officers no longer take part in certain assignments.”144 Der Spiegel quotes a German Federal Ministry of the Interior spokesman as saying, “Germany is watching the developments with concern and has already demanded that Greece improve the situation of refugees.”145 In our meeting with Frontex in their Piraeus office, we asked for their response to the report, and they claimed that the article was misleading. Gerald Baumkirchner, a Frontex officer present in the meeting, responded: We cannot expect that work styles will be the same. They [the German “guest officers”] compared what they saw with what they know from home….But the other issues, regarding human rights violations, we made clear that these will not be tolerated.146 When we presented our preliminary conclusions to the three Frontex officers who met with us, they expressed concern about detention conditions in Greece and explained that they 142 Frontex letter to Human Rights Watch, March 29, 2011. 143 “Greichenland-Türkei: Grenzpolizisten jagen Flüchtlinge in Minefeld,” Der Spiegel, December 11, 2010, http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,734123,00.html (accessed April 14, 2011) Translations of Der Spiegel article by Human Rights Watch; see also “Media: German officers criticize Greek treatment of migrants,” December 11, 2010, http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1604981.php/Media-German-officers-criticize-Greektreatment-of-migrants (accessed April 14, 2011). 144 Ibid. 145 Ibid. 146 Human Rights Watch interview with Gerald Baumkirchner, Pireaus, February 15, 2011. 49 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2011