-9C.
Consultations held by the delegation
4.
In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with Antonios ROUPAKIOTIS,
Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, Kontantinos KARAGOUNIS, Deputy
Minister of Justice, Marinos SKANDAMIS, General Secretary of Crime Policy, Ministry of Justice,
Patroklos GEORGIADIS, General Secretary of Civil Protection, Ministry of Public Order and
Citizen Protection and Lt-General Adamantios STAMATAKIS, Deputy-Chief of the Hellenic
Police. The delegation also had talks with other senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the Hellenic Police, the Hellenic Coast Guard, migration-related services and the prison
service.
Further, the delegation met Calliope SPANOU, the Ombudsman, as well as representatives
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Greek National
Commission for Human Rights, and members of non-governmental organisations.
A list of the national authorities and organisations met by the delegation is set out in
Appendix II to this report.
D.
Cooperation between the CPT and the Greek authorities
5.
The cooperation received during the visit by the CPT’s delegation from the Greek central
authorities as well as from the management and staff in the establishments visited was generally
very good. The delegation had rapid access to the places of detention visited, was able to speak in
private with those persons with whom it wanted to meet and was provided with access to the
information it required to carry out its task.
The CPT wishes to express its appreciation for the assistance provided to its delegation in
the course the visit by the liaison officers from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice,
Transparency and Human Rights and Public Order and Citizen Protection.
6.
The CPT has repeatedly emphasised that the principle of cooperation set out in the
Convention requires that decisive action be taken to improve the situation in the light of the
Committee’s recommendations. Further, for a meaningful ongoing dialogue to be conducted it is
self-evident that the information provided in a State’s response must be accurate and reliable. In this
respect, the CPT has appreciated the willingness of the Greek authorities to pursue a dialogue with
the Committee and to provide it with regular updates on the situation in the country since its
previous visit in January 2011.
In the report on the 2011 visit, the CPT expressed its serious concern regarding the lack of
effective action to tackle the systemic deficiencies identified by the Committee, notably as regards
the conditions of detention of irregular migrants and the situation in prisons. It also pointed to the
problem of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and the apparent absence of effective action
when allegations of ill-treatment were brought to the attention of the authorities, which led to a
climate of impunity within the law enforcement agencies.