Tag Archive for 'petrou ralli'

European Court of Human Rights charges Greece over detention of two women from Dominican Republic

The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ordered Greece to pay 6,500 euros in compensation each to two applicants who lodged a complaint regarding the conditions of their detention prior to expulsion from the country.

The applicants, Mariana de los Santos and Angela de la Cruz, both nationals of the Dominican Republic and born in 1962 and 1979 respectively, were arrested on August 10, 2011, for illegal entry into Greece and placed in detention with a view to their deportation at the Thessaloniki department for illegal immigration.

They told the court that their cell was overcrowded and their daily stipend of 5.87 euros did not allow them to purchase regular meals.

Their complaint also referred to the conditions of their detention in Athens after they were transferred to the Aliens Directorate of Attica in September of the same year, saying that conditions were unsanitary as there had been only a single shower and a single toilet for all of the female detainees.

The conditions under which they were held were deemed by the court as inhuman or degrading treatment and in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

see: EKathimerini (in English)

see also: greek reporter (in english)

Mother with baby detained one month in Petrou Ralli detention cells

Detention of babies and children under inhuman and degrading conditions in Greece

Z.M. from Afghanistan, a young mother of a one-year-old and a six-year old was arrested in the end of April 2014 in Eleftherios Venizelos, Athens Airport for the try of “illegal exit” of the country and the “use of false documents” (§ 83 and § 87 par. 7 of law 3386/2005). After two days of detention in the airport prison they were brought before the one-headed Misdemeanor Court of Athens, which pronounced a sentence of four months imprisonment on suspension. Then they were both transferred to the detention cells of the Aliens Police Department in Petrou Ralli. “We were detained in the second floor. In the beginning there were also two other mothers with their small children. When they were released we stayed alone in the cell. Next to us there was a cell where they locked up people who were getting crazy inside the prison. These poor people were crying and shouting throughout the nights. My baby was afraid, crying often instead of sleeping. … We were given only once weekly milk while the food was of very low quality lacking vitamines and oil. We couldn’t go out every day and the toilette and bathroom were filthy as we shared it with all other people.” The mother with her baby were released after one month on June 4th and only after a lawyer appealed against the detention.
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Syrian refugees detained in Petrou Ralli (Athens) and Aspropirgos in hunger strike!

They demand freedom and political asylum. Some of the hunger strikers are more than 15 months in detention!

roz karta (in greek)

European Court of Human Rights rulings against Greece for detention conditions 2012

The European Court of Human Rights ruled against Greece in the case of the 29-year-old Chinese Luping Lin, for ill-treatment during detention in Elliniko prison near by Athens in 2010. The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Greece to pay the Chinese citizen 5,000 euros in compensation after wrongly arresting him in Athens and mistreating him during detention. The 29-year-old had entered the country legally in 2006 and obtained a residence permit but was arrested and deported four years later.
kathimerini (in greek)

In the case of Bygylashvili v. Greece of 25. September 2012 Greece was also condemned by the ECHR for detention conditions in Petrou Ralli Aliens Police Directorate. The applicant, Gannet Bygylashvili, a Georgian national, had taken a case against Greece claiming a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment). The Court decided that the detention conditions, after her arrest for irregular entry into the country, in the premises of the Attica sub-directorate with responsibility for foreigners, were inhumane due to the fact of over-crowding, lice infestation and poor quality drinking water.
Source

In the case of Ahmade v. Griechenland of 25. September 2012 Greece was condemned for the detention conditions in two small police stations in Athens. The judgement by the European Court of Human Rights, int the case of Ahmade v. Greece, found that the asylum seeker was wrongfully detained in a police station.
The applicant, Mr Seydmajed Ahmade, is an Afghan national who lives in Athens. He was arrested on several occasions for unlawfully entering Greek territory, and released in August 2008 on condition that he left the country within three months.
In August 2009, Mr Ahmade was arrested for involvement in a fight between foreigners and Greeks. An expulsion order was issued against him and he was placed in detention on the ground that he posed a threat to public order and was likely to abscond.
He was held for 83 days, first in the Aghios Panteleïmon police station, then in the Pagrati police station. Following the dismissal of his asylum application, he was given 60 days to leave the country; he appealed unsuccessfully against that decision.
Continue reading ‘European Court of Human Rights rulings against Greece for detention conditions 2012’

No access to asylum in Greece

A young sans-papiers collapsed when the people were trying to enter the aliens police


While an increase in the numbers of asylum recognition rate are proudly presented refugees have no access to asylum in Greece.
Continue reading ‘No access to asylum in Greece’

“I come to Petrou Ralli police station since 5 months, every day”

Every night hundreds of sans-papiers go to Petrou Ralli police station to reserve a place in the long row. They are trying to enter the aliens police in order to apply for asylum. Despite the fact that the Greek government is announcing improvements in the Greek asylum system what we see is that access to asylum is not possible until today.

Press Release of the Group of Lawyers: Lacking access to Petrou Ralli Aliens Police

Under the blanket its a bit warmer, but some are without!

You never know at what time the officers will come to take a few of us inside. sometimes at 24, sometimes at 4am or at 6am. We wait here and try to be of the first. No chance! They only accept 20 persons per day. I don’t even understand on what criteria they chose. We stay out in the cold for nights and days. Without food. Many also without a blanket. You cannot move, if you do that your place will be lost. There is so much fighting about who will get inside to ask for asylum. The police watch us, but they don’t care. I am now since 4 days here. I have only one bottle of water. Thats all! Can you find the same situation in other European countries?

Today I am the first. It is my chance maybe.

No sleep, no food, cold...

Hundreds of people here every day leave behind their traces

Today I have some hope to enter

Is it the same in other countries?

No one care for us