incredibly difficult for individuals to report on violations, out of fear, lack of evidence or avenues to safely do so. Respondent 17, Egypt. Detained in Amygdaleza PRDC. It’s almost like they say bad words, we say bad words, it’s like that. But sometime when it’s get more like the police take their stuff and they enter to the caravan and so they pick the one or the two and they take them to another places and they beat them… no one can see what happened to the person they take. [...] So they, they let him in a small room without, dark, without window. And they beat him also. So he gonna sit like that for one or two days until they get him again go back to the caravan. Respondent 18, Afghanistan. Detained in Amygdaleza PRDC. Ok, so the rules that was for 8 days, the police who send them, for the people who did bad things, they send those people there. It was a closed room, and dark. So yes, the police send people who have fights, I can give you for example there was a person from Pakistan who tried to set fire to the camp, and the police know about it so they send this person to this room for 3 months, it depends on their behaviour and the cases, and how severe the case is yes. iii. Paranesti (Drama) PRDC In Paranesti, 75% of respondents detained in the facility reported violence by the authorities. Specifically, people explained that any form of protest or asking questions was frequently used as justification for being beaten. One individual described an alarming practice that he referred to as ‘crossing’, whereby he was taken to a room, before reportedly having his hands tied up and being beaten by officers with batons as a form of punishment. Testimonies also indicated that detainees in Paranesti were physically abused as a brutal response to repress hunger strikes, a practice which BVMN has previously noted to occur in Paranesti.37 Respondent 4, Algeria. Detained in Paranesti PRDC. One time when I was in Drama a guy was asking to go to the hospital and they took him because he ate some knives, small knives (razors) because he wanted to go. And when they took him to the hospital he managed to escape, they tried to find him, did not find him and came back to detention and went to his room and were looking for his phone and when they did not find the phone they just beated me and everyone up. I was sleeping and they opened the door and beat me. Respondent 1, Algeria. Detained in Paranesti PRDC. I witnessed blood and how people were beating, beating with batons and yeah, that was really a bad scene. Yeah like insulting the religion, insulting skin colour, everything. It happened 3 times with the same level of violence, really bad level of violence, really high level of violence I would say. Yeah a violence that I have never seen in my life. They would just keep them there and after the beating they would close the door of the container and they would serve them food just from the window. They put 6 people, they put me in the middle and they started beating with the batons. I couldn’t walk, also my knee, i couldn’t walk for 10 days. And also the second time, my ears also, I thought I would lose the hearing. They just put you inside and they beat you. It’s terrible. Despite the justification of ‘bad behaviour’ frequently reported by respondents as a justification for mistreating detainees, BVMN asserts that across all testimonies, coercive methods of control were never necessary, and thus amount to a breach of Article 3 of the ECHR. The overwhelming use of punitive practices across PRDCs in mainland Greece indicates that abuse is not an isolated occurrence, and concerningly, is used with purpose and intent to intimidate detainees. Respondent 2, Tunisia. Detained in Paranesti PRDC. Sometimes 5 policemen came inside and took one and put him in the middle and started beating him with everything like with batons, kicking. It’s so stressful for the people inside. Some people get angry when they don’t get their rights, like medicine and sometimes they don’t give them what they need and they start to climb the fence and protest and don’t take the food and start shouting, so they come inside and beat them. 11