The respondent is a 34-year-old Egyptian man who reported being apprehended on 19th May 2024 at the train station in Thessaloniki. The respondent was apprehended despite having a police paper requiring him to leave the territory within 25 days, which had been issued 4 days prior to his apprehension. He reported that he was attempting to leave Greece when he was apprehended. The respondent was first taken to a police station which is likely to be the Thessaloniki Police Headquarters given his report of the structure of the building and location, where he stayed for one day, and was then transferred to the Transfers Facility of Thessaloniki (Metagogon). After spending 25 days in Metagogon, the respondent was eventually moved to the Paranesti PRDC. At the time of apprehension, the respondent was travelling from Athens to Thessaloniki, together with three other men. Following the apprehension, the respondent reported that he was taken to a police station located 15 minutes by car from the Thessaloniki bus station. Given the respondent’s report of the building and the location, this police station is likely to be the Thessaloniki Police Headquarters. Upon arrival, the respondent had his documents checked, and was asked to sign some papers, give his fingerprints and a photo of each detainee was taken by what the respondent described as police officers. The respondent believed that he was kept in the facility until the time limit to leave the country had expired. The respondent described the first police station as a two-storey facility. Reportedly, undocumented people were kept on the second floor, whereas individuals charged with criminal offences were detained on the first floor. The respondent was put in a cell on the second floor together with four other people. The room only had one bed where one detainee was sleeping, whereas the other four were all sleeping on mattresses lying down on the floor. The respondent was reportedly not given any food and only five euros and eighty cents per day. The respondent had his phone confiscated by police working at the Thessaloniki Police Headquarters. No explanation was reportedly given as to why he could not get access to his phone. The respondent only received his phone back on the second day after being transferred to the Paranesti PRDC. Reportedly, the respondent could only communicate through the landline and he needed to pay for a phone card in order to use it.

At around noon on the day following the apprehension, the respondent was reportedly transferred to Metagogon. Reportedly, this second facility was also comprised of two floors, with undocumented people detained on the second floor and individuals charged with criminal offences detained on the first floor. The second floor reportedly had eight cells. The respondent reportedly shared a room with five other people and they were all sleeping on mattresses on the floor. The cell had a toilet, but it did not have any air conditioning or heating. Reportedly, no food or water was provided and the respondent was given five euros and eighty cents to buy food from a market which was reportedly available every day between 11am and 2pm. The respondent reported that the money that they were given was not sufficient to buy food and water and detainees needed to rely on their own personal savings. Reportedly, the cell had a window and access to electrical light, but the respondent was not allowed outside of the cell during the entire duration of his detention there. Communication was reportedly extremely difficult with the officers working at Metagogon because they did not make themselves available to detainees. Also, the respondent was reportedly given documents written in a language that he could not understand. No translation or access to legal support was provided and the respondent added that “if you have money you have the right to a lawyer”. The respondent reported that he believed some detainees arriving at the facility had been subjected to violent treatment by the authorities during their apprehension. According to the respondent there was a man who arrived in his cell and “his eye was very damaged and like blood spilling from it”.