XIII. Detention in Greece: Inhuman and Degrading Treatment Although Greek police authorities did not give Human Rights Watch unimpeded access to assess conditions of detention in the locations we asked to visit, we were able to gather testimonies from detainees that paint an alarming picture of police mistreatment, overcrowding, and unsanitary conditions, particularly in places where we were not allowed to visit, such as border police stations, the airport, Venna, and Mitilini. The detention conditions and police abuses described in the three preceding sections of this report certainly constitute inhuman and degrading treatment. Our findings are consistent with those of other bodies.207 For example, in February 2007 the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visited 24 police stations and migrant detention centers under the authority of the Secretariat of Public Order and found that “persons deprived of their liberty by law enforcement officials in Greece run a real risk of being ill-treated.”208 The CPT went on to say: [T]here has been no improvement as regards the manner in which persons detained by law enforcement agencies are treated [since the CPT’s 2005 visit to Greece]. The CPT’s delegation heard, once again, a considerable number of allegations of ill-treatment of detained persons by law enforcement officials. Most of the allegations consisted of slaps, punches, kicks and blows with batons, inflicted upon arrest or during questioning by police officers…. In several cases, the delegation’s doctors found that the allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials were consistent with injuries displayed by the detained persons concerned.209 Just as the CPT observed the lack of improvement in detention conditions and allegations of abuse of detainees between its 2005 and 2007 visits, Human Rights Watch also notes our own previous reporting on detention conditions in Greece. In 2000, 207 See Pro Asyl, “The truth may be bitter, but it must be told” and Report from the LIBE Committee Delegation Visit to Greece, July 2, 2007. 208 CPT Report to Greece, February 8, 2008, p. 29, para. 58. 209 Ibid., p. 11, para. 11. 83 Human Rights Watch November 2008