News

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the detention of an unaccompanied minor at Feres and Soufli border posts for over 5 months constituted a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights as well as a violation of the right to an effective remedy and the right to liberty and security.

In line with a consistent pattern of ECtHR judgments condemning Greece for detention conditions which amount to a violation of Article 3 ECHR, the Court has again found that the detention of a Bangladeshi national in an alien’s police department for 71 days in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions constituted a violation of Article 3.

In a case which concerned an Iranian national, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the conditions of various detention centres in Greece, where the applicant was placed, along with the living conditions after his release, constituted degrading treatment and thus a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Foreign nationals in Greece who refuse to cooperate with their deportation can be lawfully detained pending removal for longer than the maximum of 18 months permitted by the EU Returns Directive, according to an Opinion published on 20 March 2014 by the Greek State Legal Council. The Opinion has reportedly been approved by the Minister, allowing the police to implement the policy.