- 35 For the purpose of properly filling in and maintaining the detainee registers, instructions-orders
have been issued – and continuously recalled in the context of daily inspections/supervision – to all
police agencies for strict compliance with their obligations, stemming from applicable provisions.
In the context of the new computerized system for foreign nationals, additional regional computer
systems and electronic detainee records have been provided for.
Paragraph 75: Recommendation to the Greek authorities to ensure to detainees the right to make
a complaint for ill-treatment
In implementation of these recommendations, the Head of Staff of the Hellenic Police Headquarters
issued order No.6004/12/56-a/16.10.2013, which recalled the obligation to provide detainees at
police agencies with the new standardized and updated "Information Leaflets on their rights" (Form
D-33) and the new form D-34 "Detainee's complaint", in a language they understand, in order to
enable every detainee, irrespective of nationality, to make a complaint during detention about any
bad detention conditions, abuse, ill-treatment or other violations of their rights and address such
complaint to any authority, agency or organisation, which is the main reason for the launch of such
form (D-34). Moreover, agencies with detention facilities must provide detainees with such form in
a language they understand and keep the evidence of provision of the form in the individual records
of each detainee, and post the D-34 form in all languages at the detention facilities.
To implement the foregoing, the General Police Directors were ordered to instruct the Directors of
their Agencies (at Police Directorate level) to nominate a senior officer to be responsible for the
inspection and supervision of the agencies involved in such matters and give corresponding orders
to officers on duty to conduct daily inspections to verify compliance with such obligations and, if
they ascertain that the officer on duty is not aware of or does comply with such obligations,
disciplinary procedures will be initiated against them and the governing officers.
Moreover, given the expressed will of the political and physical leadership for zero tolerance in
matters of human rights violations, it was underlined again that, whenever there is evidence of
potential ill-treatment, effective action must be taken, pursuant to the provisions of presidential
decree 120/2008 on "Disciplinary Law for Police Personnel", in conjunction with the relevant
Circular Orders, to immediately, thoroughly and fully investigate such incidents and impute
disciplinary sanctions depending on the gravity of the offence, so as to prevent any sense of
impunity.
It was also pointed out that the persons conducting, giving opinion and deciding administrative
inquiries should procure that they are formally and essentially complete and take any legitimate
investigating action required to conduct thorough, justified and in-depth investigations into the
complaints within a reasonable period, so that all concerned parties have the secure feeling that the
administrative inquiry covered all aspects of the matter, that all involved police officers and any
witnesses were duly examined and that any existing medical certificates or medical examiner's
reports, proof of the victim's hospitalization and any other evidence were sought and obtained, and
that any criminal dimension of the matter and its course have been established. At the same time, it
was underlined that thorough investigations must be conducted when the "victim" belongs to
vulnerable ethnic, religious or social groups or is a foreign national for the presence of racist
motives in the behaviour of the police officers, taking into consideration the case law of the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The competent investigating officers of the cases must
make special reference to this information in a separate paragraph of their findings.
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