Tatishvili v. Greece

Court rulings

Type of violation

Summary of case: The applicant entered Greece initially on a two-month visitor’s permit. Greek authorities arrested and detained the applicant, a Georgian national, when he failed to leave the country after a thirty-day deadline imposed following his rejected residence permit application. The applicant was first placed at the Special Holding Facility for Aliens of the Thessaloniki Aliens Police Directorate and later moved to Petrou Ralli Special Holding Facility for Aliens after a denied asylum application. He claimed the conditions at both sites were inhumane and degrading. In addition, the applicant raised issues with the legality of his detention and absence of legal avenues to dispute the lawfulness of his detention. Previous judgments from the Court, along with reports from the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the UNHCR, demonstrated that conditions at Thessaloniki Aliens Police Directorate Holding Facility and Petrou Ralli Pre-Removal Detention Centre (Tavros) were in violation of Article 3. Moreover, the Greek government admitted the applicant shared a small cell with five other individuals at Petrou Ralli. Although the Court ruled that Article 5(1) and Article 5(4) were not breached in this instance, the applicant’s experience of detention at the two sites violated Article 3.

Related detention centre

Link to external source: https://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/en/content/ecthr-tatishvili-v-greece-application-no-2645211#content

Supporting files