The deprivation of liberty rule is applied to all persons undergoing screening within RICs, including vulnerable persons and children, in contravention of EU asylum law (Art. 8, 2013/33/EU) - which designates that “a person should not be held in detention for the sole reason that he or she is seeking international protection” - and EU human rights law.³⁸ If considered as detention, the Greek authorities’ practice of depriving applicants of international protection of their liberty within RICs is bound by procedural safeguards for the detention of asylum seekers³⁹ including the obligation to provide information in writing regarding the reason for the person’s detention and the right to appeal the decision, in a language which they can understand or reasonably be supposed to understand (Art. 50(6), 4939/2022). “I think suffice to say that most of the problems in relation to this regime start from the fact that there is a fundamental legal disagreement between the Greek government and the broader legal community and EU institutions on whether [the deprivation of liberty measure] is or is not detention.” Greek lawyer There are concerns regarding whether Greece is adhering to its own legal provisions in relation to the date on which the deprivation of liberty decision is issued. In December 2022, the Greek Ombudsman requested clarification from the RIS regarding the date on which people receive the restriction of movement decision,⁴⁰ following a case in which shipwreck survivors were deprived of their liberty for two weeks within the RIC of Malakasa, prior to being issued with the decision to restrict their liberty. In May 2023 GCR reported a case in which an Afghan national was de facto detained at Malakasa RIC for 29 days in March-April 2023 before receiving the deprivation of liberty decision.⁴¹ This case is the subject of a complaint to the Greek Ombudsman submitted by GCR in October 2023. In this case, the decision to restrict the freedom of the applicant was issued just one day before the registration of his asylum request. 17