Likewise, a persistent matter of concern is that, even in the cases where the Court has ordered the release of the detainees (for example, due to the insufficient reasoning of the decision, or because the Art. 46 procedure had not been followed, because they were in possession of original documents, or even because they were eventually found to be minors), it has always ordered measures alternative to detention. In the vast majority of the cases, these measures include the applicants’ obligation not to leave the island of Lesvos and to report to the police authorities of Mytilene town either on a daily basis or twice per week. No legal remedy is foreseen in the decision whereby the asylum seekers could challenge this order. This is even more challenging for applicants who are later assessed as vulnerable and are, as such, mandatorily transferred to camps/accommodation in the mainland, as part of the “decongestion of the islands” strategy. Additionally, the automatic judicial review procedure seems to be limited to the detention decisions that are issued pursuant to a recommendation for detention by the Asylum Service. Accordingly, the review is restricted to examining whether the detention has indeed been recommended by the Asylum Service, without assessing its reasoning or the necessity and proportionality of the detention measure. Cases where the detainees have not been able to register their asylum application with Lesvos RAO or where the Head of Lesvos RAO has not proceeded to recommend the detention are not submitted to the Administrative Court for automatic judicial review purposes. As seen above, these asylum seekers continue to be detained under the original readmission/detention decision and not as asylum seekers under the procedure foreseen in Art. 46 of L. 4375/2016. Finally, there is no practical possibility for the participation of detainees or their legal representatives in the automatic judicial review proceedings, as they are never informed about the date of the transmission of the decision to the Court or about the date of the hearing. Restricted access to international protection The administrative detention of asylum seekers decisively restricts their effective access to the asylum procedure. Due to their detention, it becomes impossible for the “low profile” detainees to collect evidence in support of their statements and to submit such material to the Asylum Service. This is especially true if they are not legally represented. However, the available free legal aid on Lesvos, especially for detained asylum seekers, is scarce. Between May 2018 and December 2019, Lesvos RAO has been unable to provide adequate free legal aid at second instance for asylum seekers whose applications are rejected. This is due to the fact that there has either only been one State lawyer appointed for the appeals of Lesvos RAO or no lawyer at all, Welcome the stranger. Protect the refugee. | 19 19