Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January-June 2007 including the stage of taking individuals to the police station.” arrested In January and May the European Court of Human Rights also found Greece in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR (prohibition of torture or degrading treatment or punishment). In the case of Alsayed Allaham v. Greece, the Court recalled that “where a person is injured while in detention or otherwise under the control of the police, any such injury will give rise to a strong presumption that the person was subjected to ill-treatment”. In the case of Zelilof v. Greece, the Court reiterated “that in respect of a person deprived of his liberty, recourse to physical force which has not been made strictly necessary by his own conduct diminishes human dignity and is in principle an infringement of the right set forth in Article 3.” Nevertheless, AI was concerned to receive reports from lawyers and local human rights organizations that allegations of illtreatment by police officers were on the increase during the period under review.   On 8 June a Moldovan woman legally residing in Greece was allegedly illtreated by police officers at the General Police Headquarters of Attica in Athens. The woman said that she had been repeatedly beaten, forced to strip to her underwear and had had clumps of her hair pulled out by police officers, who also threatened to destroy her residence permit. Despite her reported willingness to testify against the police officers, by the end of the period under review, no steps had been taken to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice. On 16 June video footage appeared on the website YouTube showing two young migrants at the Omonia police station in central Athens being beaten by police officers and being forced to insult and slap each other repeatedly (see AI Index: EUR 25/007/2007). At least five officers faced prosecution in relation to the incident. Subsequently, two further videos appeared online, Amnesty International 57 depicting instances of ill-treatment, including sexual abuse, of detainees in police custody. Investigations were ongoing at the end of the period under review.  An Iraqi asylum-seeker reported to the Committee for Human Rights of the Chania Bar Association in Crete that he was severely beaten on 1 June, when he arrived at the Chania police station to claim asylum. An investigation was underway at the end of the period. Conditions of detention At the end of February, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visited 26 places of detention around the country. The CPT’s findings from this visit were not publicly available by the end of June. Throughout the period under review, overcrowding, poor standards of hygiene and ill-treatment continued to be reported in prisons and other places of detention. At the end of April, the alleged ill-treatment of an inmate at the Malandrino prison in central Greece sparked protests which subsequently spread to 10 other prisons throughout the country. Prisoners in Malandrino reportedly said that the incident had been “the final straw”. Some alleged that their water supply had been cut off for three days. The Greek authorities refuted the allegations. According to media reports, the capacity of Malandrino prison is 280 inmates, while at the time of the incident 460 people were held there. AI has repeatedly urged the authorities to ratify and implement the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture. Deaths in custody A number of deaths in custody were reported during the period under review, with at least 10 occurring in the period March-June according to the nongovernmental Prisoners’ Rights Initiative. In AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007