C. Informal forcible removals at borders – “pushbacks” 152. In the reports on the 2018 and 2020 visits,59 the CPT addressed the issue of informal enforced return operations of foreign nationals from Greece to Türkiye both along the Evros land border area and at sea, without consideration of their individual circumstances, vulnerabilities, protection needs or risk of ill-treatment when returned (informally referred to as “pushbacks” or “driftbacks”). The Committee gathered sufficient evidence to conclude that pushbacks took place. Some persons had indicated that they had been pushed back multiple times. 153. The increasing resort to violent pushback practices at Europe’s borders with minimal accountability by state actors has led the CPT to set out its views in its 32nd General Report. 60 In particular, the Committee has identified diverse modus operandi of pushback operations and established clear patterns of physical ill-treatment deployed against foreign nationals. The CPT has advocated for reinforcing the safeguards against refoulement and ill-treatment, and for promoting the operation of independent monitoring and complaints mechanisms at the borders. Any allegations of pushback operations must be effectively investigated and those involved be held accountable. 154. During the 2023 visit, the CPT delegation again received many consistent and credible allegations of persons pushed back, often violently, across the Evros river or at sea to Türkiye. The allegations were obtained through detailed interviews with persons detained throughout Greece in various CCACs, PRDCs and other police and border guard establishments. Most allegations on pushbacks at sea referred to the period prior to the tragic sinking of a boat near Pylos in June 2023. However, the delegation received several allegations dating from mid-October to early November 2023 in relation to pushbacks across both land and sea borders. Many allegations obtained in different locations from various unrelated individuals, including unaccompanied and separated children, corroborated the detailed descriptions and stories received elsewhere. The persons who alleged that they had been pushed back from Greece to Türkiye had subsequently re-entered Greek territory61 and had been apprehended by the Hellenic Police or the Hellenic Coast Guard and transferred to a CCAC or police and border guard station or, regarding older allegations, were held in a PRDC. Two patterns emerged. 155. As regards alleged pushbacks at the land border in the Evros region, detained persons reported that they had crossed the Evros river from Türkiye and had arrived on Greek territory, where they were apprehended by police officers or unidentified masked men in military fatigues and brought to a holding place (usually a building but sometimes in the open) where they were held for several hours. Several persons interviewed by the delegation alleged that they had to kneel with their hands behind their back or lie down on the floor, head down, and that they were subjected to baton blows, kicks or punches if they disobeyed. After several hours, they were placed in overcrowded vans. They were then reportedly brought to the river by men dressed in dark clothes or military fatigues, wearing balaclavas and equipped with sticks. Several alleged that they were forced to undress. All stated that their personal belongings were removed, including money and mobile phones, before they were placed in boats and taken across the Evros river. The delegation also received corroborating allegations that some of the alleged pushbacks were carried out by foreign nationals employed for this purpose, who were wearing balaclavas and wielding plastic sticks. For example, a Pakistani national met at Xanthi PRDC, alleged that in January 2022, he was apprehended together with a group of 14 other persons by unidentified masked men in military fatigues near the village of Feres after he had crossed the Evros River from Türkiye to Greece. He was subsequently brought to a police detention facility, where he was held for one day, together with over 30 foreign nationals, including two women. He alleged, that in the late evening two persons in plainclothes entered the cell and that he was subjected to several blows with a metal rod on the back of the thighs. All detained persons were allegedly forced to undress, had their belongings removed and had to lie down on the floor; those who did not obey were struck. He further claimed that, at around midnight, the group was loaded together with a second group of over 30 persons in the back of a van by four unidentified masked men dressed in black clothes, and brought to the riverbank. 59. See, in particular, the CPT’s 2020 visit report (CPT/Inf (2020) 35), paragraphs 53 to 60. 60. See the extract from the CPT’s 32nd General Report on The prevention of ill-treatment of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty in the context of forced removals at borders. 61. Many persons recounted several pushback episodes that they had endured during the previous two years. 46