"They didn’t explain, they just wanted to take me and they did it.”

The respondent, an Algerian man aged 18-25, was apprehended between July and December 2021 while exiting the entrance of the University in Thessaloniki. 

The respondent reported being approached and questioned by four men in black uniforms with OPKE written on them. He described that they first asked him where he was from to which he replied "Algeria", and they subsequently asked “what are you doing here, are you coming in to destroy our country?”. The respondent explained that he had received a three year residency that had expired less than five years prior and he had found it extremely difficult to renew it due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He had attempted to show the uniformed men his passport as a form of identification but he was reportedly ignored by the officers. When asked if they had given him a reason for apprehending him, the respondent replied that they had not. “They didn’t explain, they just wanted to take me and they did it.”                                                                               The respondent was then reportedly handcuffed and loaded into the back of a white unmarked vehicle with two of the four uniformed men sitting on either side of him. During the 10 minute car journey, the respondent stated that the two officers beat him. He recalled a third officer that was sitting in the front of the car also turning around to beat him. “They wanted to beat me and to scare me.” He further described being verbally abused and insulted during the car ride. “They were saying to me words that I have never heard. And they were very disrespectful to me.” The respondent believed that the officers had purposefully lengthened the drive so that they had more time to beat him. Once they arrived at what the respondent referred to as Colombo police station, he recalled the treatment from the officers being less violent, yet still experienced verbal abuse and insults. He believed the reason for the less violent treatment was because their boss was present. When asked what led him to believe this man was the boss, the respondent replied that it was obvious because he had all the documents. Once at the police station, the respondent was reportedly locked in a cell with one or two other people for approximately four hours. The respondent was then reportedly relocated to Megalo police station (Thessaloniki Police Headquarters) for approximately eight days.“In Megalo I knew that I was going to prison, I just felt it. So I spent the whole 8 days sleeping.” After eight days, at approximately five o’clock, the respondent was loaded into a van with two officers in civil clothing and driven to Metabo police station where he stayed for approximately one hour. Following this, he was transferred and detained at the Nigrita prison. The testimony describing the conditions in the facility can be found here.