8 GREECE IRREGULAR MIGRANTS AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS ROUTINELY DETAINED IN SUBSTANDARD CONDITIONS conditions in which asylum-seekers were being detained in Greece. The ECtHR had concluded that the conditions in which the applicant was detained, including lack of medical assistance, ability to exercise, and communication with the outside world, combined with the excessive time spent in detention, amounted to degrading treatment, in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).6 The ECtHR also held that since the applicant could not have been deported pending the outcome of his asylum application, his detention, with the view to deporting him, had no legal basis in Greek law, at least after the date that his application was officially registered. As a result, the Court found Greece in violation of Article 5(1) of the ECHR (right to liberty).7 In addition, in June 2009, Amnesty International raised concerns over legislative amendments increasing the maximum period of administrative detention from three to six months, with the possibility of a further extension of up to 12 months, making it a possible total of 18 months.8 Also, in August 2009, Amnesty International wrote to the Greek authorities to express, amongst other issues, its serious concerns over reports regarding the conditions of detention of groups of asylum-seekers and irregular migrants who had been transferred from immigration detention centres on Greek islands to Athens, and then to the north-eastern region of Greece for the purpose of deportation, as well as their treatment during transfers.9 In its March 2010 report, The Dublin II Trap: Transfers of asylum-seekers to Greece, Amnesty International raised concerns about the automatic detention of people returned to Greece under the Dublin Regulation and the conditions in which they – particularly vulnerable individuals such as children - were being held at Athens airport.10 It is also worth noting that in November 2009 the ECtHR found a violation of Article 3 of the ECHR for the second time in the case of Tabesh v Greece.11 In this case the applicant, an irregular migrant, was held pending deportation for seven days at the borderguard station of Kordelio, and for three months at the Thessaloniki Aliens’ Police Directorate in 2007. The ECtHR concluded that his conditions in detention at the Police Directorate constituted degrading treatment.12 The ECtHR also held that the period that the applicant was detained exceeded the time considered reasonable for the purpose of carrying out his deportation and found a violation of Article 5(1) of the ECHR. In reaching its conclusion, the ECtHR noted that the applicant was not released until the end of the maximum period provided for in the relevant national legislation and took into account that the Greek authorities did not undertake the necessary formalities with the applicant’s country of origin in order to effect his deportation during the period that he was in detention. The concerns of Amnesty International are echoed by other key actors in this field. For example, the findings of the ECtHR in the case of S.D. v Greece pose serious questions over the compatibility between the current law which allows the continuation of the detention of asylum-seekers who have applied for asylum while in administrative detention and international human rights law.13 In July 2009, the Greek Ombudsman called for the reevaluation of relevant provisions in light of the above judgment.14 The findings of the ECtHR in the case of Tabesh v Greece should also impel the Greek authorities to re-evaluate the practice of detaining irregular migrants whose deportation cannot be effected.15 Amnesty International July 2010 Index: EUR 25/002/2010