515404
Testimony- Testimony collected by
- Border Violence Monitoring Network
- Date and location recorded
- 10th January 2024, Thessaloniki, Northern Greece
- Detention centre related
- Detention Centre Country
- Greece 3
- Duration of detention
- 6 - 12 months
- Nationality
- Morocco
- Age
- 24
- Gender
- Male
- LGBTQI
- No answer
- Type of arrest
- Individual
- Why was the respondent detained?
- Undocumented
- Detained before?
- Unknown
- Was the respondent informed of the duration of detention?
- Yes, in a PRDC
- Did the respondent experience any violence?
- Yes
- Type of violence experienced
- Forced undressing
- Physical violence
- Strip search
- Was the respondent forced to sign documents?
- Yes
- Did the respondent have access to translation?
- Yes, in a police station
- Did the respondent have access to medical aid?
- Yes
- Did the respondent have access to NGOs?
- Yes, upon visit
- Did the respondent have access to legal support?
- Yes, upon request
- Did the respondent apply for asylum?
- Yes
- Appealed?
- No
- Number detained in cell
- 6
- Number detainees sharing WC
- Unknown
- Hygiene rating
- Very poor
- Type of cell
- Room, shared
- Had access to phone?
- Yes, without camera
- Had access to WiFi?
- Unknown
- Ventilation
- Unknown
- Participated in hunger strike / protest?
- Yes
- Had conflicts with other detainees?
- Unknown
- Meal quality
- Very poor
- Meal quantity
- 2 per day, in PRDC
- Had access to water?
- Tap
- Had access to outdoor space?
- More than 2h per day
- Had access to educational resources?
- Unknown
- Had access to religious space?
- Dedicated
- Had access to electricity?
- Unlimited
- Had access to bed?
- Individual, thin
- Had access to laundry?
- Facility
- Had access to toilet articles?
- Provided, limited
- Had access to mattress?
- Individual, thin
- Narrative
The respondent is 24 years old and is from Morocco. He was apprehended in Trikala, subsequently held in at Kalabaka police station for 20 days, transferred to the Transfers Department of Thessaloniki (Metagogon) for one night, and then moved to Paranesti Pre-Removal Detention Centre (PRDC) for a period of nine months and 17 days. Upon arrival at Kalabaka police station, the respondent was asked to take off his clothes and was searched, photographed and fingerprinted. At the facility, he was given access to an interpreter over the telephone. The interpreter informed him that he was arrested due to entering the country illegally and helped him fill in forms. These forms included personal data questions about himself and his family. Reportedly, the officers confiscated his belongings and told him that he would have them back when transferred. The respondent reportedly asked for asylum at the police station through the interpreter. In the facility, the respondent was held in a cell with another man. The conditions of the facility were described as unclean. Reportedly, he received five euros and 80 cents per day to buy food, which was not enough. After 20 days in the police station, he was transferred to the Transfers Department of Thessaloniki (Metagogon) for one night. In Metagogon, the respondent was held in a cell with seven others and the conditions were reported as very poor, with dirty mattresses and bed bugs. Upon arrival at Paranesti PRDC, the authorities informed the respondent that he could be held in the facility for up to 18 months. He was fingerprinted, photographed and his phone was taken away and returned without the camera after a week. The beds were described as very uncomfortable, with slats far apart that dug into and hurt their backs. The bedding was dirty and there were reportedly bed bugs. There was a separate bathroom in the container with 2 toilets, 2 showers and a hand basin. The respondent stated that there was a continuous supply of hot water but that the only hygiene items distributed monthly were small quantities of shampoo and soap. A team of cleaners came daily to clean the communal spaces and rooms, and collected and did laundry twice a week. There was a TV room, a prayer room and a very small 25 metres x 15 metres outside space which the detainees could access from around 8:00 to 00:00. Outside of these hours, detainees were locked in their rooms. There were at least four functioning CCTV cameras in each section of the facility. In Paranesti, detainees were provided with two meals per day, however in small portions and of bad quality and food distribution was reportedly disorganised. The tap water at the detention facility was reportedly bad and if detainees had enough money they preferred to buy bottled water from a visiting ‘market’. The facility reportedly had a small medical team of one doctor and four nurses, with limited medicines available. Detainees had access to medical services twice a week, however, there were no translators available during appointments. Reportedly, some non-governmental organisations occasionally visited the centre to speak to the detainees in private along with a translator. In Paranesti the respondent witnessed incidents of violence in which officers beat detainees with batons in front of others: “To show to people that that’s what happens to somebody if they try to resist.” Reportedly, the respondent was verbally and physically abused by the officers in the detention facility. He was reportedly taken out of his room by six officers who then slapped, beat and handcuffed him very tightly for over one hour and a half. “I was screaming from the pain but they didn’t even care, they didn’t want to open them [the handcuffs].” Reportedly, officers were deliberately more intimidating to non-Greek speakers. In Paranesti, the respondent took part in a hunger strike in protest against the extensive length of detention, which continued for several months. The respondent applied for asylum in Paranesti, he reported that the legal support provided by the authorities of the PRDC was “useless and everybody avoids this option”.