This concerned obstacles to refugees’ access to social protection, and the practice introduced by domestic law in 2022 of depriving people in reception and identification procedures of their liberty for up to 25 days. In July, the EU Ombudsman opened an inquiry into how the European Commission ensures compliance with fundamental rights in the context of its support to CCACs. In October, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Greece for failing to grant adequate medical care to an HIV-positive asylum seeker in two reception facilities. Wildfires in the Evros region (see below, Right to a healthy environment) fuelled racist rhetoric and abuses against migrants and refugees. A legislative amendment passed in December allowed undocumented migrants who had been in Greece for at least three years as of the end of November 2023, and who held a job offer, to apply for a three-year residence permit. The amendment also reduced the time asylum seekers were required to wait before being able to work from six months to 60 days from the time their asylum requests were lodged. HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS Human rights defenders continued to face criminalization for their work with refugees and migrants. Although misdemeanour charges against Sarah Mardini and Séan Binder were dropped in August by the Supreme Court, the following month they and 22 other defendants were indicted for four felonies including forming and membership of a criminal organization, and facilitating irregular entry. Concerns remained about the criminal charges ongoing against Panayote Dimitras, spokesperson of the NGO Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), and Tommy Olsen, head of the NGO Aegean Boat Report, in relation to their work assisting refugees and migrants at Greece’s borders and reporting cases of border violence and unlawful returns. In January, authorities imposed restrictive measures on Panayote Dimitras, although a 184 ban on him working with the GHM was reversed in May. NGOs were also concerned about a smear campaign and judicial harassment of Panayote Dimitras. RIGHT TO PRIVACY In July, an investigation by Greece’s data protection authority into the use of Predator spyware traced 350 SMS messages attempting to install surveillance software; 88 individuals were notified that their mobile phones had been targeted. In September, civil society and members of the European Parliament expressed concern about the sudden replacement by the Greek parliament of several members of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE) at a crucial time for the investigation of the spyware scandal. In October, during a European Parliament committee hearing, the head of ADAE expressed his concern that a current and a former member of ADAE were subjects of a criminal investigation, while to date no one had been charged for spyware use. RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES In September, a ferry captain and three of his crew were charged in connection with the drowning of Antonis Kargiotis, a ferry passenger. One of the crew was recorded using racist slurs about Antonis Kargiotis. Disability rights activists called on authorities to investigate a possible hate motive behind the case, due to the victim’s reported health condition. LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS During the year, derogatory and harmful discourse in political and media spheres about LGBTI people sparked concern. In April, the Racist Violence Recording Network reported 38 hate crimes in 2022 where the targets were LGBTI individuals or those defending their rights. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION In April, it was reported that in December 2022 a court had accepted in part a civil lawsuit against journalist Stavroula Poulimeni The State of the World’s Human Rights