______ (3) Mainland Pre-Removal Detention Centres (PRDCs) Similarly to MIT’s 2023 research on detention conditions,165 and as mentioned in our previous Rule 9.2 submission, a recent BVMN report evidences the systematic and routine use of physical violence against people across Greek immigration detention centres. 166 60% of testimonies collected by BVMN field partners during 2023 referred to the use of physical violence, with trends across PRDCs including the use of isolation to conceal acts of abuse and the use of Electric Discharge Weapons.167 In March 2024, charges of torture and complicity to torture were brought against four law enforcement officers at Amygdaleza PRDC. 168 According to BVMN, 25% of respondents 169 across Greece reported first hand experiences of being strip searched in detention facilities or witnessing such incidents, a practice amounting to 170 inhuman and degrading treatment. Additionally, 51% of people interviewed report facing and/or witnessing verbal abuse at least once throughout their apprehension and detention, while 16% of respondents report threats of violence or even death. Similar findings are shown in a research conducted by BVMN in 2022 and 2023 171 and in historic and recent CPT reports. 172 Overcrowding was raised by 40% of respondents to BVMN’s research detained in mainland PRDCs with frequent reports of being forced to share beds with others, or sleep on the floor.173 Specifically, the mattresses in Paranesti and Amygdaleza PRDCs were often described as thin, uncomfortable and dirty. 174 Overcrowded conditions and dilapidated containers (see Annex 6) were coupled with limited access to outdoor spaces, with detainees in Corinth PRDC reporting being allowed out of their confined spaces for as little as four hours a day. 175 Sanitation facilities were reported as unclean and often broken. 176 Shower facilities were also reported to be insufficient in Amygdaleza PRDC: “...out of 10 [showers] you could find only one good shower. [...] So everyone had to be in a line”.177 Detainees report having to buy items such as toilet paper, towels and hygiene products from a truck coming a few times a week. 81% of people reported being served inadequate food, which was described as “inedible” or “expired”. 178 Furthermore, 45% of respondents across Greece mentioned either the quantity or quality of water as a concern, most notably in Corinth PRDC, Amygdaleza PRDC and Samos CCAC. ________________________________ 165. Mobile Info Team. 2023. “Prison for Papers” Last Resort Measures Used as Standard Procedure. Available at: https://www.mobileinfoteam.org/detention. 166. Border Violence Monitoring Network. 2024. Violence Within State Borders: Greece. Available at: https://borderviolence.eu/app/uploads/Violence-Within-State-Borders-Greece-1.pdf. 167. Ibid. 168. Efsyn.gr. 2024. ‘Για βασανιστήρια κατά μεταναστών συνελήφθησαν 4 συνοριοφύλακες’. Available at: https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/dikaiomata/426136_gia-basanistiria-kata-metanaston-synelifthisan-4-synoriofylakes. 169. Border Violence Monitoring Network. 2024. Violence Within State Borders: Greece. Available at: https://borderviolence.eu/app/uploads/Violence-Within-State-Borders-Greece-1.pdf 170. Iwanczuk v. Poland [2001] ECHR (App. No. 25196/94) para 59; UNCHR ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ (2016) UN Doc A/HRC/31/57, para 23. 171. Border Violence Monitoring Network. 2023. Dark Rooms, Degrading Treatment and Denial: The Use of Violence in Greece’s PreRemoval Detention Centres. Available at: http://www.borderviolence.eu/detention-violence-greece 172. CPT. 2020. ‘Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 13 to 17 March 2020’. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/1680a06a86. CPT. 2024. Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 20 November to 1 December 2023’. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/1680b0e4e1. 173. Border Violence Monitoring Network. 2024. Violence Within State Borders: Greece. Available at: https://borderviolence.eu/app/uploads/Violence-Within-State-Borders-Greece-1.pdf. 174. Ibid. 175. Ibid. 176. Ibid. 177. Ibid. 178. Ibid. 19