or by an adequately trained doctor of a public sector health care provider and obtain a certificate so attesting.669 The provision has been maintained by the IPA670 and the Asylum Code.671 The main critiques against this provision are that doctors in public hospitals and health care providers are not adequately trained to identify possible victims of torture and that the law foresees solely a medical procedure. According to the Istanbul Protocol, a multidisciplinary approach is required – a team of a doctor, a psychologist, and a lawyer – for the identification of victims of torture. Moreover, stakeholders have expressed fears that certificates from entities other than public hospitals and public health care providers would not be admissible in the asylum procedure and judicial review before courts. According to decision 147/2022 of the First Instance Administrative Court of Thessaloniki in the case of a vulnerable person from Siera Leone whose medical documents issued by public entities and his certification of victim of torture issued by Metadrasi NGO were not taken into consideration neither during first nor during the second instance examination of his asylum application, states the following: “the contested decision which rejected applicant’s claims as unreliable, without taking into consideration the documents presented and without inviting the applicant to a prior hearing, is not legally and sufficiently justified and must be cancelled […]. subsequently, the request for annulment must be accepted, the contested decision must be annulled, and the case must be referred back to the competent Committee, so that the above mentionned […] documents be considered […] and the applicant be invited in person”.672 As reported by several civil society organisations,673 “certain categories such as victims of torture are systematically not identified as such, where certification does not take place. Certification of victims of torture is impossible in the country in practice, given that public health authorities do not have the processes and capacity in place to carry out certification. The authors have contacted public health institutions on the islands on various occasions to inquire whether they certify victims of torture in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol, victims of rape of other serious form of violence, as well as whether hospital staff are appropriately trained for such a certification and whether the victims are able to receive the necessary care for their rehabilitation.” According to a report of FENIX – Humanitarian Legal Aid entitled Unrecognised Vulnerability- Greece’s systematic failure to identify and certify Victims of Torture of April 2023: “Despite national law, the certification of VoTs systematically does not occur. Article 67(1) of Law 4939/2022 imposes that only public authorities are competent to provide certification. This is a restriction to Article 25 of the Reception Conditions Directive, which only specifies that the competent authorities have ‘appropriate training’. This is an unnecessary restriction of the competent authorities which provide certification and a violation of Article 4 of the Reception Condition Directive. The restriction creates further barriers to the identification and certification of VoTs, especially considering that no public authority in Greece currently has qualified personnel or is competent for this type of certification of VoTs. […] The gap in the identification and certification of VoT is not only verified on the islands of Lesvos; it is also verified on the mainland, including in Athens. The Forensic Service of Athens and several public hospitals systematically reply to requests submitted by Fenix legal representatives that they cannot proceed with the identification and certification of VoTs according to the Istanbul Protocol due to a lack of specialised training and knowledge […] there is no public authority with qualified professionals willing to assume the required competence to proceed with the certification process of VoTs”.674 669 670 671 672 673 674 Immigration.gr, Η πιστοποίηση θυμάτων βασανιστηρίων αποκλειστικό «προνόμιο» του κράτους; May 2018, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/3ne4vn42. Article 61(1) IPA. Article 67 Asylum Code. Decision 147/2022 of 1st Instance Administrative Court of Thessaloniki – case supported by lawyer Athina Kalogridi in ARSIS – Association for the Social Support of Youth, Seeking International Protection: A CaseLaw Handbook, 2022-2023, pp. 49-53, available at: https://tinyurl.com/384xn8xm. RSA, HIAS, GCR, Legal Center Lesvos, DRC, Fenix, ActionAid, Mobile Info Team, The Workings of the Screening Regulation. Juxtaposing proposed EU rules with the Greek reception and identification procedure, January 2021, p. 16, available at: https://bit.ly/3fL8xFF. FENIX – Humanitarian Legal Aid, Unrecognised Vulnerability- Greece’s systematic failure to identify and certify Victims of Torture, pp. 17-19, available at: https://tinyurl.com/mwpxajcv. 145