44 Xenakis S., Cheliotis L. December 1969. Greece’s defiance towards human rights criticism from its European counterparts was fuelled by confidence in its geostrategic importance to the US and to West European states as a member of the anti-communist NATO alliance, especially in the aftermath of the crushing of the Prague Spring by the Soviets in 1968. Continuing arms sales from its allies, in particular, served to embolden the Greeks and diminish their concern about critical discourses from their international partners (see, e.g., [38, 39]). In 1970, against the background of ongoing international criticism of human rights abuses, it was the looming prospect of a new round of US Senate hearings on military aid to Greece that encouraged the junta to take steps towards the temporary liberalisation of the regime – including the release of detainees [40]. Given the superficial nature of Greece’s approach to the ECHR, it was unsurprising that no domestic legislative changes ensued after the country’s withdrawal from the CoE, and the 1953 statute formally remained in force. Equally testament to the embedded character of such attitudes, however, is that whilst after the collapse of the junta the incoming Greek government under the premiership of Costas Karamanlis sought to demonstrate its commitment to democracy and liberal democratic values (generally conceived) by swiftly re-approving the ECHR and readily accepting the Council of Europe’s early invitation for the country to rejoin the association (prior even to the holding of national elections), the potential ramifications for Greek law did not attract interest and the ECHR was largely absent from parliamentary debates about the wording of a new constitution ([26, 41]). Greek non-compliance in the contemporary period In 1975, following the restoration of democracy, Greece adopted a new constitution that included an extensive bill of rights. The country went on to recognise the compulsory jurisdiction of the ECtHR in 1979 and the right of individuals to petition the ECtHR in 1985, and ratified the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (which established the inspections monitoring regime of the eponymous Committee, known as the CPT) in 1991. Until the 1990s, however, Greek courts usually did not cite case law emanating from the ECtHR and – reflecting their continuing subservience to domestic political leadership – tended to reject claims of ECHR violations without consideration of their merit. On occasions where such claims were given substantive consideration, Greek courts typically relied on the provisions set out by the national constitution, only rarely and fleetingly acknowledging the relevance of the ECHR. Since the late 1990s, Greek courts have demonstrated greater awareness of, and deference to, the provisions of the Convention. The number of applications lodged against Greece with the ECtHR has nevertheless risen steadily since the right to individual petition was recognised. The number of violations found by the ECtHR to have been committed by Greece has also increased steadily, with a particularly dramatic rise evident during and since the 2000s. Indeed, the country has one of the highest violation rates of states signatory to the Convention (see, e.g., [10]). Between 2001 and 2015, Greece received at least 55 convictions under Article 3 of the Convention, the overwhelming majority of which were received between 2010 and 2015 [42]. Most of these cases have concerned the rights of either foreigners facing