4. CASE LAW Greece has been convicted several times by the ECHR for breaches of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, especially articles 3 and 5. At first a general reference should be made to the ruling of the ECHR at the M.S.S.36 case. On its ruling the Court among others it stated that Greece is not a safe country for the return of asylum applicants in terms of the Dublin II convention as a result of the poor conditions during the reception procedures and the non effective examination of the applications for international protection. As to the decision to detain an immigrant, Greece is convicted in several cases. In the Tabesh case37 an Afghan immigrant was kept in detention while there was a decision for his deportation to a country that the deportation was not possible. The ECtHR stated that the duration of his detention was more than the necessary and that he was only released when the maximum period of detention was reached. In addition the reasoning of the decision of detention was insufficient and that he was not adequately informed in a language that he could understand. Accordingly, in SD v. Greece38 the UNCHR stated that according to Greek law the detention judicial detention of an immigrant in cases when the deportation is not possible is not allowed. Even earlier than these decisions of the ECtHR, the Administrative court of first instance of Athens, with two decisions in 2002 and 2003,39 accepted the objections against a decision for the detention of an immigrant whose deportation in his country of origin was impossible. In regards to the duration of the detention and the extension that has been decided lately and has raised many objections by the NGOs, the Greek Supreme Court has stated that considering the time needed for the completion of the procedure of deportation, the extension is lawful. With the same judgment it was also stated that the cases of asylum applicants should be the first to be examined and until the completion of the procedure asylum applicants cannot be deported. 36 M.S.S v Greece and Belgium, Application No 30696/09, 21 January 2011 Tabesh v Greece, Application No. 8256/07, 26 November 2009 38 S.D v Greece, Application No.53541/07 39 908/2002 & 3546/2003, Διοικητικο Πρωτοδικείο Αθηνών 37