there being video footage of the abuse, the Prosecution’s proposals refer to police officers lightly pushing the two migrants in a police vehicle, kicking without causing any damages and harmful slapping (Amnesty International, 2005). Similarly, according to a report by the Ombudsman in 2004, between 2000 and 2004, 164 cases of complaints against police officers were lodged. Of these, 25 concerned illtreatment. A percentage up to 65 per cent of these allegations were dismissed as unfounded despite the existence of medical certificates proving the injuries and in only five cases were disciplinary actions imposed (Takis, 2004; see also Amnesty International, 2005). As Papapantoleon (2014, p. 44) has so eloquently argued in her examination of the relationship between the judiciary and the far-right in Greece, ‘the general atmosphere of judicial impunity regarding police officers who commit violent and criminal acts, either in public (e.g., during demonstrations) or in the invisible spaces of holding pens, produces a moral and collective consciousness that puts forth, above and against all else, the restoration of order and discipline: “cleaning up” cities of rioters, foreigners and strikers who interfere with the normal processes of Greek life’. Expanding controls By 2009, it was clear that Greece was becoming a main migration getaway to European Union states, from both a conflict-ridden Middle East and Africa. Migration related developments, such as the so-called Greek-Turkish border emergency (Human Rights Watch, 2008; Pro Asyl, 2007), a collapsed asylum system and a de facto ghettoisation of certain areas of downtown Athens had been taking place and were exacerbated by an acute economic crisis (Triandafyllidou and Ambrosini, 2011). European Union member states blamed Greek authorities for the excessive permeability of its borders. The Greek conservative government responded with ever-tighter border controls and massive sweep operations for arresting and removing irregular migrants. Operation ‘Areti’ (Grace) ordered by Mr Viron Polydoras, Minister of Public Order in 2006, which involved thousands of police officers patrolling the streets of Athens, set the tone for the government’s treatment of the ‘immeasurable threat of illegal migration’.58 58 For more details on the treatment of immigrants by the Greek police, see iospress.gr (2006). 88