10. Minors 70 »I could not call my brother in Germany to tell him that I am alive.« M.H. (17), from Iraq208 ■ M.H. was arrested on November 15, 2010 and detained in Soufli detention centre with a deportation order issued on November 20. He was originally registered as adult with the birth date 1/1/1990 while his claimed birth date is 5.2.1993 and he does not speak English. On December 8, 2010 a first fax was sent by GCR to the authorities informing them about the case of M.H. and that he was claiming to be a minor.209 On December 17, 2010 the authorities informed us to have sent a paper to the public prosecutor informing them about M.H. to be a minor. On December 23, 2010 GCR sent a second fax to the authorities to ensure the correction of his age. On January 31, 2011 GCR sent a third fax to the responsible police and juridical authorities requesting the release of the minor and informing them that he has an adult brother in Germany.210 He was detained during all of the five months in mixed detention in Soufli. The police assured us that his age was re-assessed and changed into the claimed date but he remained in detention and turned 18 in March 2011. On April 18, 2011 the mission lawyers put an appeal against his ongoing detention before the court of Alexandroupolis. He was finally released on May 4, 2011 due to the court decision shortly before the legal maximum of six months detention could be reached. His official note handed to him upon release still contains the wrong birth date of 1.1.1990. »I never received any information about the reasons I am being detained here or about detention length. I did not know that I am here in order to be send back. […] The situation inside the cell is horrible. I have 25 days to take a shower. I could not call my brother in Germany to tell him that I am alive. In the cell we have a lot of fights for food, for some place to sleep, for anything. I just got beaten by an elder detainee.«211 M.H. stayed almost six months in detention. Upon his release the boy did not have even one euro to travel to Athens. When we met him in Athens we have noticed that he had five scars on his arm. He told us that he used to self-injure himself every month of detention. 208 M.H. from Iraq; December 19, 2010; February 28, 2011; April 14, 2011 – Soufli; May 2011-Athens 209 Protocol number: GCR 526/2010. 210 Protocol number: GCR 80/2011. In most of the cases, minors interviewed during our missions told us that they have been advised both prior to their arrival to Greece by co-nationals and post to it, by the officers proceeding with their registration, that claiming to be minors would lead to longer confinement. In fear of being detained for longer periods under these appalling conditions, many minors claim to be adults in order to be released sooner. There is no clear framework, which can guarantee the proper screening and registration procedure, carried out by the authorities. Neither the presence of Frontex can be of any guarantee. In most of the cases, wrong registration occurred due to lack of proper interpretation, arbitrary assessment, lack of representation and lack of qualified and train personnel on cultural, linguistic differences. Furthermore there’s not a clear way to put a complaint against these wrong registrations. During our missions and in talks carried out with Greek police officers and Frontex personnel in detention camps, we’ve been told that in practice Frontex stands to support the Greek authorities during the procedures. But officially they have no right to assess, so as written on the documents it’s »under Frontex suggestion«. »Why do I have to stay here, and the others are being released?« A.M. (17), from Iraq207 ■ The boy was arrested on the 23rd of October 2010 and falsely registered as adult. He was brought to Venna detention centre where he remained for more than four months. »Why do I have to stay here, and the others are being released,« he asked us. The wrong registration was corrected after an intervention of a GCR lawyer and he was transferred to Fylakio detention centre due to the lack of special cells for minors in Venna. The public prosecutor for minors was informed about A.M. by the police of Fylakio. On the 15th of April we were informed by other minors that there was one of them being detained for more than 5 months. They said he was getting crazy because he did not know why the other minors were being released after 1-3 months while he was still in detention. On the 3rd of May 2011 and after another intervention of a GCR lawyer he was finally released and sent to Konitsa reception centre for minors. 211 M.H. from Iraq; December 19, 2010 – Soufli 207 A.M. from Iraq (17); April 15, 2011– Fylakio (first detained in Venna)