The respondent is 37 years old and comes from Morocco. He was arrested in Monastiraki Square in Athens, on the grounds that he did not have documentation, and subsequently detained in pre-removal facilities for a period of 7 months. Prior to his arrest, the respondent had been detained for a period of 15 months in multiple pre-removal detention centres.

On arrival at Kypseli Police Station, the respondent was charged with carrying knives, which he denied. He was taken to court some days later, and then returned to the police station. The respondent spent 5-7 days in Kypseli Station in very poor conditions, in a cell that he described as “underground, like a cave” and reported that he was denied access to the toilet and was punished for asking to use it. He was reportedly physically assaulted by 4 officers in Kypseli Police Station. “There were around 3 police officers that were holding me and one of them was beating me up [...] They were very brutal, they used everything. They used batons, they kicked me and they hit me". He further reported that his belongings (a rucksack containing medical documentation, his dentures, cell phone etc) were confiscated by the officers and never returned to him.

The respondent reported that he was then transferred to Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre (PRDC) where he was detained for approximately 1 month. The reason provided by the authorities for his detention was again a lack of documents. He reported that the conditions at Amygdaleza were poor, including a lack of hygiene items, unsanitary conditions, poor quality and insufficient amounts of food, and lack of information provided in a language he could understand regarding the duration of his detention.

The respondent requested to be transferred to Paranesti PRDC, where he was detained for a further 6 months. He reported that all the services and conditions are inadequate, but that the single most pressing problem is the indefinite period of detention. The respondent shared that he wants the Greek government to limit the number of months for which a person can be administratively detained. "The actual thing that we want, it’s not food, it’s not hygiene, it’s not anything [like this] but it’s to change this law, because it is not fair. We want this law to be changed.”