- 39 87.
Material conditions at Isaakio Police and Border Guard Station were grossly sub-standard.
The detention area consisted of a 21-m²-cell and a 38-m²-cell, which were poorly ventilated and lit
and which were only equipped with some dirty sponge mattresses and blankets lying on the floor.
The cells and sanitary annexes were extremely filthy, unhygienic and full of waste (e.g. food
leftovers and clothes, empty bottles, used diapers and sanitary towels were strewn on the floor). The
sanitary facilities were also in a poor state of repair (e.g. leaking pipes).
In light of this, the duty senior officer assured the CPT’s delegation that the detention area
would be cleaned that same day. However, during a follow-up visit to the facility two days later, not
only had the two cells and sanitary annexes still not been cleaned but they were crammed with
41 foreign nationals, including women, young children and a baby. Fifteen persons had spent the
night in the smaller cell and 26 new arrivals were required to stay overnight in the larger cell (i.e. all
in less than 1.5 m² of living space each). The latter group had not even been provided with dry
clothes (all their clothes had got wet when crossing the Evros River the night before). Further, the
register indicated that foreign nationals had regularly been held overnight in the weeks and months
prior to the visit; on two occasions, almost 50 persons had spent one or even two nights at the police
station. Cramming so many persons into such filthy cells and not addressing their basic needs is
unacceptable and, in the CPT’s view, can be considered as amounting to inhuman and degrading
treatment.
The CPT recommends that the Greek authorities take immediate action to remedy
these shortcomings and refurbish Isaakio Police and Border Guard Station in line with the
recommendations set out in paragraph 94 to ensure that detained persons are held in decent
and clean conditions without exceeding the establishment’s capacity. If this is not possible,
Isaakio Police and Border Guard Station should be taken out of service.
88.
Further, the delegation received several credible allegations that the conditions of detention
in Tychero Police and Border Guard Station (not visited by the delegation during the present visit)
– which had clearly not been closed down as announced by the Greek authorities in 2013 – were
extremely poor. Foreign nationals complained that they had been held there for up to one month in
overcrowded and extremely unhygienic conditions, some without having been provided with a
mattress and a blanket. As a result of these appalling conditions, many persons reportedly became
infected with scabies. Indeed, the delegation met with a number of foreign nationals who had been
transferred from Tychero to other police establishments in the Evros region, some of whom had
been isolated for medical reasons and had received anti-scabietic treatment. They further alleged
that they had not regularly been provided with food free-of-charge, that often they had not been able
to access the toilet, and that they had not been provided with clothing or shoes.
The CPT would like to be informed about the conditions of detention at Tychero Police
and Border Guard Station (including capacity, daily occupancy levels for the months of July
and August 2018, material conditions, access to toilet, provision of food and clothing,
measures to prevent infectious diseases, and access to outdoor exercise).
Επιλογή στοχευμένης παραγράφου3
Σύνδεση με παράγραφο
Σύνδεση με οντότητα
Απενεργοποίηση επισημάνσεων
Προσθήκη στον πίνακα περιεχομένων