- 12 II. FACTS FOUND DURING THE VISIT AND ACTION PROPOSED A. Law enforcement agencies 1. Preliminary remarks 12. The CPT’s delegation visited a number of establishments under the authority of the Ministry of Interior (regional police headquarters and stations, transfer centres, detention facilities for foreign nationals), certain of them for the first time.4 It also visited facilities of the Port Authorities, under the authority of the Ministry of Merchant Marine, and special holding facilities for aliens under the joint responsibility of the Prefectures, Regions and the Ministry of Interior. 13. The relevant provisions of the Criminal Code concerning detention of criminal suspects by law enforcement authorities have not changed since the CPT’s last visit to Greece in September 2008: a criminal suspect may be held in a police or border guard station for up to six days, after which the person concerned should be transferred to a remand prison.5 However, due to the overcrowding in many prisons, persons remanded in custody, or even sentenced, could continue to be detained for months on end in police stations. 14. As concerns the detention of irregular migrants, the relevant 2005 Aliens Law was amended in July 20096, extending the length of detention from a maximum of three months to six months. Further, the detention may be extended by an additional period not exceeding twelve months if an irregular migrant refuses to cooperate with the deportation process or while waiting for requested documentation from the country of origin of the migrant to arrive. Upon apprehension by the police, an irregular migrant is held in a police or border guard station until the prosecutor decides whether or not the migrant should be prosecuted for the criminal offence of illegal entry or administratively deported.7 Usually, such a decision is made within a few days. 4 5 6 7 The following places were visited for the first time by a CPT delegation: the police and border guard stations of Kavala, Neo Karvali, Patras (Emrou Street, Gounari Street, Panepistimou Street and Mavromateon Street) Piraeus Moschatou, Serres, Siderokastro and Thessaloniki Dodecanesis Street, as well as the Thessaloniki Airport Holding facilities and the Police Transfer Centres in Amfissa and Patras. The detention of a criminal suspect on the sole authority of law enforcement officials may last for a maximum of 24 hours. During this initial period, a public prosecutor may confirm the detention and refer the case to the competent judge; in general, detained persons are brought before the prosecutor prior to such a decision being taken. Within three days thereafter, the suspect must be brought before the competent judge who must, within a further two days, release the person or remand him in prison. In consequence, a criminal suspect may remain in the custody of a law enforcement agency for a maximum of six days following arrest. These rules apply equally to other agencies, such as the Coast Guard and Customs authority, to the extent that they exercise law enforcement powers involving the possibility of depriving persons of their liberty. Law 3772/2009 (published on 10 July 2009). Article 83 (1) of the 2005 Aliens Law.