According to both respondents, the officers were
aware of the specific harms being posed to this
vulnerable individual and decided not to act. This
particular case shows the wide-ranging abuse
detainees inside Paranesti are subject to, which
stretches from conditional to verbal to actual
physical harm. The 28-year-old respondent ended
the interview by asking field reporters to ensure his
story is published saying, ‘show the people how we
are suffering in this detention.’
These kinds of reports are not limited to Paranesti
PRDC but are indicative of a wider trend of human
rights violations across detention sites in Greece.
Further reports gathered speak to the denial of
medical care, squalid conditions, and physical
beatings from staff in both Corinthos and Xanthi
PRDC. Rather than ‘a few bad apples’, data
gathered by the BVMN suggests violence in
detention is a systematic and coordinated practice
that fits with the general policy of deterrence and
incarceration that the MMA appears to be pursuing.
We assert that the Greek state is knowingly
breaching its international obligations by regularly
denying detainees access to basic conditional
securities, procedural guarantees, and the
protection of their non-derogable human rights.
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