819563
Testimony- Testimony collected by
- Oxford University researchers
- Date and location recorded
- 20th May 2026, Athens, Greece
- Detention centre related
- Detention Centre Country
- Greece 4
- Duration of detention
- More than 24 months
- Nationality
- Pakistan
- Gender
- Male
- LGBTQI
- No answer
- Type of arrest
- Individual
- Why was the respondent detained?
- Public order grounds
- Detained before?
- Unknown
- Was the respondent informed of the duration of detention?
- No
- Did the respondent experience any violence?
- Yes
- Type of violence experienced
- Destruction of personal property
- Forced undressing
- Isolation
- Medical neglect
- Physical violence
- Threats and intimidation
- Was the respondent forced to sign documents?
- Unknown
- Did the respondent have access to translation?
- Not applicable
- Did the respondent have access to medical aid?
- Yes, but insufficient
- Did the respondent have access to NGOs?
- Unknown
- Did the respondent have access to legal support?
- No
- Did the respondent apply for asylum?
- Yes
- Appealed?
- Yes
- Number detained in cell
- Unknown
- Number detainees sharing WC
- Unknown
- Hygiene rating
- Very poor
- Type of cell
- Isobox/container, shared
- Had access to phone?
- Yes, own
- Had access to WiFi?
- Dysfunctional
- Ventilation
- Unknown
- Participated in hunger strike / protest?
- Yes, succesful
- Had conflicts with other detainees?
- Witnessed
- Meal quality
- Very poor
- Meal quantity
- Unknown
- Had access to water?
- Unknown
- Had access to outdoor space?
- Yes, limited space
- Had access to educational resources?
- None
- Had access to religious space?
- Unknown
- Had access to electricity?
- Unknown
- Had access to bed?
- Yes
- Had access to laundry?
- Unknown
- Had access to toilet articles?
- Unknown
- Had access to mattress?
- Unknown
- Narrative
The respondent is a man with Pakistani nationality. He reported being detained for a total of 48 months more or less consecutively in three different detention centres - Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre, Corinth Pre-Removal Detention Centre and Petrou Ralli Pre-Removal Detention Centre - between 2020 and 2026. During this time he also reported spending two months in Exarcheia police station, however his testimony concerned the conditions in PRDCs. The respondent reported being frequently transferred between detention centres every few months which he believed was done as a punishment. The respondent was detained while his asylum applications were pending on public order grounds and reported that he submitted over 10 subsequent asylum applications before receiving a positive decision. The respondent described inadequate medical care in all three detention centres, including limited access to doctors, insufficient medical resources, long waiting times, and repeated denial of requests for hospital treatment by officers. According to the respondent, transfers to hospitals were granted only to detainees in very serious condition. The respondent also reported illicit drug use among detainees, including among people who had not previously been dependent on drugs before being detained, which he attributed to the extremely challenging conditions of detention. The respondent further reported that some detainees resorted to self-harm, including making themselves bleed, which he interpreted as an act of resistance to deportation. In Amygdaleza, the respondent reported his belief that police officers, nurses, doctors and social workers were selling medication and other items to detainees to make a profit. He stated: “There are doctors but no care. There is medicine but for sale”. The respondent explained that access to basic necessities, including medical care and food, depended largely on the police officers in charge, who reportedly “filter requests”. The respondent reported the death of an Indian man in Amygdaleza in July 2023 due to health issues which he said related to drug addiction and denial of medical care. According to the respondent, the authorities carried the man’s body in a garbage bag away from the facility. The respondent reported that access to lawyers and legal information was highly limited across all detention centres. The respondent also reported that many detainees had no choice but to submit several subsequent asylum applications, costing 300 euro each, in order to avoid deportation. The respondent described the material conditions inside the detention centres as very poor, with unsanitary toilets, lack of hot water for showering, and very poor quality food. Detainees were often made to clean the toilets themselves. The respondent reported particularly poor-quality food in Petrou Ralli, which he said was pre-packaged and distributed from the central police directorate in Athens, and stated that the quality is better in Corinth detention centre as it is catered food. The respondent explained that the police in Amygdaleza and Petrou Ralli used specific detention spaces to isolate detainees as a form of punishment. The respondent described these spaces in Amygdaleza and Petrou Ralli as resembling a “concentration camp”. They were often simple rooms without furniture or mattresses, with only a “stone bed” to sleep on. Referring to this area in Amygdaleza, where he was reportedly detained for 23 days, he stated: “you feel like you are sleeping in your grave”. The respondent described being beaten as a form of punishment; in one instance in Amygdaleza, the police reportedly broke his phone, took off his clothes, and beat him. The respondent witnessed police violence in Petrou Ralli against another detainee, whom the officers allegedly beat to “teach him a lesson”. The respondent stated that the police seemed to intend to cause serious physical harm, saying that they seemed to “literally [want] to break his bones or something". The respondent noted that such violence sometimes occurred in outdoor, public areas. The respondent described other incidents of violence between detainees, including a fight in Corinth between two men who were reportedly “fighting each other to death” and “bleeding like crazy”. After a detainee committed suicide in Corinth in 2021, the respondent witnessed a collective protest as detainees broke doors and set mattresses on fire to protest the conditions inside the detention centre.