A group of illegal immigrants was justified in escaping from a police lockup last year because of the miserable conditions in their overcrowded cell, which was filthy, ridden with disease and had no running water, a Greek court has ruled.
The court in the northwestern city of Igoumenitsa said the 15 adults – from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Morocco – had been held for up to six weeks in “wretched and highly dangerous” conditions.
“More than 30 inmates were crammed into an 18-square-yard (15-square-meter) cell with no running water or bedding and just one chemical toilet, according to the ruling, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. It said the Igoumenitsa lockup was never cleaned and the detainees were coping with lice, skin disease and typhoid.”
The decision to acquit the migrants of escaping police detention is a strong indictment of Greece’s treatment of detained illegal immigrants, which has been repeatedly criticized by international human rights groups.
A spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency in Athens said it was a very significant first for a Greek court to acknowledge that people held in such conditions had no option but to try to escape.
The men had been held in the port city pending deportation for allegedly illegally entering the country, and they escaped on Oct. 1 by pushing past police guards who had entered the cell to clear garbage.
Judge Athanassios Terzoudis argued in his October ruling that both the duration and the conditions of their detention were in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Police said the 15 immigrants in the court ruling still face deportation, but have been transferred to a different holding location.
An officer said the initial facility had been used as a “temporary” measure since there had been no others available. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case with the media. (Full story Associated Press)
At the western shores refugees don’t get caught for entering but for leaving the country, more than 70% of all arrests are made in this region.