- 12 II. FACTS FOUND DURING THE VISIT AND ACTION PROPOSED A. Police establishments 1. Preliminary remarks 13. The CPT's delegation carried out visits to three quite distinct types of police establishment: police stations and headquarters (in Athens, Larissa and Thessaloniki), the delegation focusing its attention on detention facilities and criminal investigation departments; "transfer centres" (at Athens and Piraeus), which provide temporary accommodation to prisoners, both on remand and sentenced, being moved from one part of the country to another as well as to persons subject to expulsion procedures under the Aliens legislation; and an aliens holding centre (close to Athens), which had very recently been opened in order to decongest the detention facilities at Athens Police Headquarters. 14. Under Greek law, persons may be arrested by the police on the basis of a judicial warrant or in flagrante delicto, a concept which is applied somewhat more broadly than being caught while actually committing a crime. Such persons must be brought before a public prosecutor at the latest within 24 hours of their arrest and referred to the competent judge. The judge must decide within three days either to release the person concerned or issue a warrant of imprisonment. A two-day extension of this time limit is possible in certain cases, in particular if the person concerned requests such an extension in order to prepare his defence. During this period of up to five days following his initial appearance before a judicial authority, the arrested person habitually remains in the custody of the police. In the course of the visit, the CPT's delegation received information to the effect that in some cases a period considerably in excess of 24 hours might elapse before a person arrested by the police is brought before a public prosecutor; this apparently occurred in particular if the person concerned was arrested at night or shortly before (or during) a weekend. The CPT would like to receive the comments of the Greek authorities on this question. 15. In addition to criminal suspects, persons detained on the basis of the Aliens legislation are often held in ordinary police establishments, on occasion for considerable lengths of time. However, there is some movement towards the setting up of specific detention centres for such persons. 16. Acts of torture and other infringements of human dignity by public servants and members of the armed forces are the subject of specific provisions in the Greek Penal Code (Article 137, paragraphs a. to d.), in addition to falling within the scope of more general provisions of the Code. Especially heavy penalties are foreseen, inter alia, when certain particular types of torture are used: beating of the soles of the feet (falaka), electric shocks, mock executions and hallucinogenic substances.