“I came to Europe to make my life better, not to be in prison for no reason, they are wasting my time I want to have a better life, help my family, and not be detained for no reason. And also be beaten up, get beaten up and be treated so”

The respondent is a 31-45 year old man from Morocco. Between July and December 2021 in Exarcheia, Athens, the respondent was arrested by Greek police. Despite having a valid white card, he was held briefly in Kypseli and Allodapon police stations before being transferred to Amygdaleza Detention Centre, where he has been detained ever since. This report will focus primarily on the respondent’s experiences inside Amygdaleza.

 

The day of the apprehension, the police were reportedly called because of an altercation between the respondent’s friend and somebody else. As he was sitting next to his friend when the police arrived, the police arrested the respondent and his friend together. The respondent explained they stayed for one or two nights in the police station and then went to court. Despite the court finding the respondent innocent and his friend being released on parole, the officers at the police station told him to ‘wait for a little bit’ after which he was transferred to Kypseli police station, where he stayed for approximately 30 minutes. Then, he was transferred to Allodapon, where he stayed for 1 hour, and finally to Amygdaleza Detention Centre in a police van with around 10 other people of different nationalities. 

The respondent had a valid white card during this whole time, so he expressed that he felt he didn’t deserve to be detained because he had his papers. When he asked the police officers at Allodapon why they were detaining him even though he had valid papers, they told him to wait until ‘the one who’s responsible comes’, however, nobody came and he was then transferred to Amygdaleza.

When in Amygdaleza, police gave him papers which detailed the rejection of his asylum case. Although the papers were in Arabic, the respondent explained there was no translator nor legal counsel present to help him appeal his rejection. 

He used his phone to apply for legal counsel through the Greek asylum office website, but the lawyer he requested never came. All the respondent reportedly received was a paper that he was told he needed to sign to be able to access his case. A few days later, he received his second rejection for asylum. 

Regarding the demographics of people detained in Amygdaleza detention centre, the respondent observed that there are many nationalities, but ‘mostly Moroccans and Algerians, the majority has had valid papers the first time that they got apprehended so there was no reason to keep them inside.’ There are also women at the detention centre, but the respondent described they were in a separate place from the men. To his knowledge, there was only one minor at the centre, but he was taken away at some point. In addition, people who have been convicted of a crime are kept in the same facility as the respondent.

Inside Amygdaleza, the respondent reports a serious lack of access to mental health support. He experiences profound mental health issues, including suicidal depression. The respondent explained that he has previously attempted suicide, and sometimes ‘puts a knife to his head and his friends help him’. He expressed that if his situation continues he feels ‘sure I will suicide’. 

For 9 months, the respondent asked for psychological support and was ignored. Talking about the police and doctors inside Amygdaleza, he said: ‘If somebody has a psychological problems they don’t believe them. Like you have to do something crazy like hit your head onto the wall or something and they have to see blood.’

After 9 months of asking for help with his mental health, he was still not taken to a hospital, but instead to Allodapon prison for treatment, where there was a French speaker. The respondent does speak some French, although it’s not his first language. He told us that ‘they did not help him at all.’ and he still has many difficulties. 

As well as a lack of access to psychological support, the respondent explained that people detained inside Amygdaleza face waiting up to 6 months for simple hygiene items like soap or fresh clothes. When detainees ask friends from the outside to bring hygiene items, they are blocked by police: ‘if they ask, they have to wait 3, 4, to 6 months to get some stuff and if you ask a friend to bring you stuff from outside they don’t let inside, like if your friend is getting you some toothbrush and toothpaste they don’t let it in.’

He also reported that people detained are denied their medicine on time, with ‘somebody who is responsible to give you the medicine just playing on the phone and telling you you have to wait. Just like it’s up to them. There is no respect too.’ Additionally, the police pick people to exploit with cleaning duties, targeting ‘vulnerable people [who] don’t know how to react and don’t know how to say no’. 

Food is also of poor quality, with the respondent saying ‘it’s not healthy at all. Most of the food we give back. We don’t eat.’ He also mentioned the food provided having a sedative effect: ‘when you eat it you feel like it’s full of drugs or something, you feel like very tired, you want to sleep’. In order to get food, the respondent explained that they arrange for someone on the outside to buy bread and other items so they can prepare a meal.

People detained are allowed to walk around in the narrow outdoor strip, but ‘there is no space for praying, there is no space for doing sport, there is no space to read’.

 

With regards to violence experienced in Amygdaleza detention centre, the respondent detailed that tension between detainees is a common occurrence and has even led to ‘dangerous fights’ between people detained. When police intervene in these situations they reportedly ‘punish everybody’ instead of trying to understand and solve the situation. In addition, he reported to have experienced violence from police towards himself. He spoke of how usual it was for police to provoke those detained: ‘if you ask for medicine, if you look at them, they tell you why you look at me? They just try to provoke you and beat you up and it’s very usual.’  

During the respondent’s first month at Amygdaleza, Police took the respondent’s cash card which contained 450 euros. When he asked them ‘why you do this? I’m innocent, why do you bring me here and you waste my money?’ 3 Greek policemen took him to the toilet and beat him heavily with batons. He told us that they beat him so badly ‘in order for him to not ask again for his rights and to be scared of them.’ After the police officers beat him with batons, they left him in the toilet with no medical assistance. 

At the time of the testimony, the respondent continued to be detained at Amygdaleza Detention Centre.