20.06.2022 PAGE 7 David* spent three days in a cell without any charges being pressed against him, only because he had received a rejection to his asylum claim and had not filed an appeal on time. He was then forced to file a subsequent application. “People come here to seek protection”, but then they are met with arbitrary detention and subjected to inhumane conditions. He recounts verbal abuse and violence by police, and appalling living conditions in the police cell, where all the nine people apprehended in the CCAC were also left: “It's very very bad, even for animals. Sometimes [the] place was very very cold. The windows were open, we asked them to close the windows [but] they said ‘no’”. When he and the person sharing the cell with him asked for water to drink, they were told: “we need to drink from the tap, the toilet tap”. He said that another man who was in the same cell with him had a physical impairment and needed a special toilet. When he asked for an adequate lavatory to the police officers, he was denied it, verbally offended, and hit by a police officer. DE FACTO DETENTION While this may be an isolated case, the implementation of strict measures regulating the residents’ freedom of movement creates a state of de facto detention. Since midNovember 2021, camp residents without a valid ID card are prohibited to leave the camp. This de facto detention applies to new arrivals until their full registration and to asylum seekers whose claim has been rejected. In theory, permissions can be delivered to access medical and legal services outside the camp, but in practice they are not always granted. Not only did a court sentence rule that the above-mentioned movement restrictions are unlawful, but legal organisations also highlight that, in many cases, restrictions for newly-registered residents exceed the time limit of 25 days of detention allowed by law. In the past months, we contacted the EU Commission and the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum requesting clarity on the legal basis on which the restrictions were enacted. Beate Gminder, Deputy DirectorGeneral of the “Task Force Migration Management” of the European Commission stated that “the Commission is closely monitoring the situation on the ground and will continue to address the matter with the competent Greek authorities.” Yet, at the end of April, camp authorities started to prevent people from accessing these services by refusing to issue the permissions. As both European and Greek authorities disregard their accountability for the situation in the facility, this random implementation of the law is illegal detention and a violation of people’s freedom of movement. LIFE IN THE CLOSED CONTROLLED ACCESS CENTRE IN SAMOS