11. Violence 76 When asked what were the worst forms of ill-treatment he experienced, S.Q. from Iran told us the following: »There are some moments that were extremely horrible for me. One time a friend of mine had problems with breathing. He went to the bars at the window and shouted to the guards: ›oxygen, oxygen!‹They threatened to beat him and, out of fear, he retreated to the cell. Another time I asked the guards for hot water in order to prepare some tea. One officer replied: ›Drink my pee!‹ This maybe was the worst feeling. I remember also another day. There was a young inmate who was freezing. He had nothing to cover himself. Thus, he asked the guard on duty if he could have a blanket. The officer told him, that if he was feeling cold, he should go and hug an inmate. The sex would heat him up.«219 During an interview with H.M from Afghanistan, he showed us the bruises on his face and body that were inflicted upon him by other inmates. He also showed us others on his leg, inflicted by the police, who intervened to stop the fight. »There was a fight between Afghan and Algerian inmates for a place to sleep. The police took us out of the cell and dragged me to the doctor’s room and began beat me with clubs. Then they took seven of us in the room with the telephones, took off our t-shirts and handcuffed us. We were kept there from 22:00 till 12:00, with no food and clothes on, just with our underwear«. 221 An unaccompanied minor told us in Fylakio: »The police sometimes beat us. First: When we are brought to the telephone room. We have only once a week access, and we are too many so not everybody has his or her turn. So when we start fighting among ourselves about the telephones, the police beat us. Second: When somebody is sick and we are shouting and making noise in order to call for medical help. »The officers sometimes came into the cell and beat us without any reason. When we were asking them for a doctor, they just laughed. Recently. One of the women in the prison was very sick. We were shouting for a doctor. An officer came and said: ›Why is she sick? Does she not have a husband?‹ Then he left. I have seen at least five persons trying to commit suicide here during the five months that I spent in Soufli.«222 »The police was hiding us in other cell so that we could not tell anyone that we had beaten us!« E.K.A., E.O.M., A.A. and I.A. from Iraq; A.H. and N.F. from Iran and A.A. from Syria ■ In August 2010, detainees reported a case of serious ill-treatment in Soufli.223 The detention conditions were deteriorating and a detainee attempted to commit suicide. Allegedly his inmates implored the police officers to bring him to hospital, but they refused to do so. »We were shouting to the police to help him. It was around 10 o’clock in the night on August 16, 2010, the guards used a high-pressure water jet to push us off the bars. Then three police officers entered the cell and started beating all of us randomly. A. was beaten with an iron crowbar.«224 Allegedly a lot of detainees were beaten – among a 55-year-old woman. At least three of them were transferred to the medical centre of Soufli. »One of the officers picked up a crowbar and beat me badly […] so badly that I urgently needed a doctor. I was bleeding. I was not 219 S.Q. from Iran; October 14, 2011 – Feres (former detainee of Tychero) 220 A.T.M. (17) from Afghanistan, October 11, 2011 – Fylakio 221 H.M. from Afghanistan, April 15, 2011 – Fylakio 222 H.F. from Iraq; February 28, 2011 – Soufli 223 Interviews with detainees: E.O.M. (Iraq), A.A. (Iraq), E.K.A. (Iraq), I.A. (Iraq), A.H. (Iran), A.A. (Syria), N.F. (Iran); August 18, 2010 – Third: When the food is brought to the cell and somebody tries to get an extra portion.«220 the only one. We were asking to see a doctor. The police refused.«225 A.A. was eventually was transferred to the medical centre. The doctors’ records mention the following: »Monday, August 16, 2010: laceration wounds sewed; Monday, August 23: sowings taken off.« »The following day we refused to eat. The conditions in the cell were awful: sewage water was everywhere since many days. We left our meals at the doors of the cells. An Afghan tried to commit suicide. He tried to cut his veins but we stopped him. We did not have any other way. We are human beings.«226 »The next day [18.8.2010] we went on with the hunger strike. We tried to inform UN about the situation. It was impossible to have access to the phone. We were afraid of our safety. A group of police officers entered again the cell, focusing on beating me and E.O.M. with globs.«227 »The police started beating me up in the first cell. When I tried to escape to the second one, they grabbed me and pulled me 224 225 226 227 Soufli. See also: PRO ASYL 2010: http://www.proasyl.de/ fileadmin/fm-dam/l_EU_Fluechtlingspolitik/Griechenland/ EVROS%20Bericht%202010.pdf I.A. from Iraq; August 24, 2010 – Soufli A.A. from Iraq; August 24, 2010 – Soufli E.O.M. from Iraq; August 24, 2010 – Soufli E.K.A. from Iraq; August 25, 2010 – Soufli