Despite the court’s decision, the CCAC’s Head continued to impose this illegal detention measure in 2022, although officially prohibited from doing so. Moreover, the CCAC’s administration has allegedly adopted “revenge tactics” against some residents that have taken legal measures against the illegal prohibition, such as sudden police incursion in the residents’ containers in the early hours of the morning, transfers to the local police station and oral eviction notes to residents with a second instance rejection, pending the registration of their subsequent asylum application. 130 Furthermore, as described below, since July 2022, a 25-day movement restriction has also been applied to new arrivals in Samos CCAC. 131 From April 2016 to 31 March 2020, 2,140 individuals had been returned to Türkiye on the basis of the EUTürkiye Statement, of whom, 801 were returned in 2016, 683 in 2017, 322 in 2018, 195 in 2019 and 139 in 2020. No readmission operations took place during 2021 and 2022. In total, between 21 March 2016 and 31 March 2020, Syrian nationals accounted for 404 persons (19%) of those returned. 43 of them were returned on the basis that their asylum claims were found inadmissible at second instance based on the “safe third country” concept. Moreover, of all those returned, 23% did not express a wish to apply for asylum or withdrew their asylum applications in Greece. 132 According to the official statistics of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum published in December 2022 133 ‘returns under the EU-Türkiye Joint Declaration have not been made since March [2020] due to Covid19’. It should be noted that the Greek authorities have requested Türkiye to resume returns based on the EU-Türkiye Joint Declaration. This has also been confirmed by more recent notes of the Readmission Unit of the of the Hellenic Police Headquarters.134 In July 2021, Greece made a new request to the EU Commission and FRONTEX for the immediate return to Türkiye of 1,908 rejected asylum seekers living on the Aegean island. The Greek Government accused Türkiye of refusing to implement its commitments under the EU-Türkiye Statement, and for continuing to refuse to engage in any way on the issue. 135 However, despite the suspension of returns to Türkiye since March 2020, the applications lodged by applicants falling under the scope of the JMD 42799/2021 (FEK B’ 2425/07.06.2021) in 2022 were still examined in the context of the Safe third country concept and the Fast-Track Border Procedure. On 2 February 2023, the Council of State in decision 177/2023 issued after a request of annulment by the Greek Council for Refugees and the organisation RSA-Refugee Support Aegean against the aforementioned JMD, formulated preliminary questions to the CJEU regarding the national list which includes Türkiye as a safe third country for asylum seekers originating from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, whose applications have been rejected as inadmissible. The Council of State submitted preliminary questions regarding the ‘legality of the national list of the fact that, for a long period (over 20 months), Türkiye has refused the readmission of applicants for international protection, while at the same time it is not clear whether the possibility of a change in Türkiye’s attitude in the near future has been taken into account’. 2.2 The domestic framework: Reception and Identification Centres The hotspot approach is implemented in Greece through the legal framework governing the reception and identification procedure in the IPA. In practice, the concept of reception and identification procedures for newly arrived people under Greek law predates the “hotspot” approach. 130 131 132 133 134 135 from the new Closed Controlled Access Facility of Samos (CCF Samos), 22 December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3un8NBI. GCR and Oxfam briefing, Lesbos Bulletin, available at: https://bit.ly/43iRKPQ ‘Greek Council for Refugees & Oxfam International Submission Inquiry on Fundamental Rights in the EUfunded Migration Facilities on the Greek Islands- Case OI/3/2022/MHZ’, available at: https://bit.ly/3NdkNPT UNHCR, Returns from Greece to Türkiye, Returns from Greece to Türkiye, in the framework of the EU - TUR Statement. Source: Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection, 31 March 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3a4rcIV. MoMA, MoMa Yearly Report 2020, December 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3uBkAJC, 5. Fenix, Fenix calls the Greek authorities to examine the merits of asylum applications rejected on admissibility, 1 February 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3v5wCNk. MoMA, New request from Greece for the return of 1.908 illegal economic migrants to Türkiye, 28 July 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3Jmid4r. 43