QUESTION to
the Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights and Public Order and to
the Minister of Citizen’s Protection about "A Syrian refugee illegally
detained for deportation in unacceptable
conditions", submitted on 31.10.2013 by the following five (5) Members of the
Greek Parliament (SYRIZA Party): Basiliki Katrivanou , Eirini Agathopoulou,
Christos Karagiannidis, Afroditi Stabouli and Dimitris Tsoukalas. The
question’s content has as follows:
"Honourable
Ministers, as you already know it is illegal, in all European countries, to
hold refugees coming from the truculent zone of Syria for deportation, and more
specifically, the Greek Police has issued a relevant circular in our country.
It is also known that the detention period in a Police Station can not exceed
48 hours; and this is the time period for putting someone, who has been
arrested, to justice. However, S. Z., a Syrian lawyer, who was targeted by Assad’s
regime for defending dissidents in his country, was held since September 25 under
miserable and inhuman conditions in a basement detention room at Zographos
Police Station, facing the risk of deportation. He was “informed” about the deportation
order, that was issued against him on 28/09/13, in a language that he could not
understand, meaning in the Greek language (as it is confirmed by the
notification evidence), while his lawyer had filed objections on 27.9.2013; which,
however, were never registered.
According
to reports in the press (for example, in the “Journalists’ Journal” newspaper
dated 7/10/2013), the Syrian lawyer arrived in Greece and attempted to seek
asylum in order to activate the process of family reunification with his brother
who lives in England. As it was testified by his colleagues, he failed to activate
the asylum seeking process although the Asylum Service Authorities have only
but a few cases to review. He attempted to avoid all bureaucratic obstacles using
“back-door procedures”, as many refugees and immigrants do when the State acts
disrespectfully to the Rule of Law in their cases. He paid in order to have
documents that would allow him to leave the country, but he was eventually arrested
and detained.
The Administrative
First Instance Court dismissed his objections during his detention, arguing his
Syrian descent, because he “did not have an official passport to prove so”, although
the Court had the translated and certified copy of his Syrian Identification
Card. The court did not consider that this document and the Family Status
document – that clearly proved the existence of a Syrian twin brother, a
recognized refugee in England UK
Indicative
of the Court’s rationale for the rejection grounds is an excerpt stating that
our country has come to an “extremely dire financial situation [...] because of
the massive influx of immigrants in Greece
Moreover,
the conditions under which the refugee is still illegally detained are atrocious
and inhuman. However, he was not even allowed seeking medical attention at a hospital,
despite the deterioration of his health. The testimony of his brother for the
detention conditions is characteristic: “It brought tears in my eyes to see my
brother in such a state [ ...], you
could see in his face all the suffering he goes through in the prison: lack of
fresh air, sun, ability to move in the open yard, unhealthy and dirty living
conditions, plus the bad behaviour from the police officers. I had to face such
cruelty from the officers too. They showed no understanding. They did not let
me see my brother for more than five minutes. I volunteered to be an interpreter
between my brother and our attorney, so as I could be with him much longer. My
request was not accepted and they used as an interpreter another person, who is
not certified as an interpreter”. Some days ago, his brother even offered
himself to a DNA test, as a last means to prove the detainee’s Syrian origin.
It is worth
noting that his Greek colleagues from Thessaloniki
Because,
according to his lawyer, the Administrative Judge dismissed again his objections
for the second time taking into account a document of the Deportation
Department dated 24/10/2013, that stated a false fact, more specifically that “the
detainee’s request for asylum was not yet
recorded”, while he chose – at the same time - to ignore the fact that,
although there was a significant delay after the 27.09.2013 and 05.10.2013 requests
for asylum while the Syrian was in jail, on 18.10.2013 his request was formally
recorded by the Asylum Service Authorities, as confirmed by the document from
the Asylum Service that was brought to the Court in support of the Syrian
refugee.
Because,
the Administrative First-Instance Court, as any other judicial authority, has absolutely
no jurisdiction to rule on the causes of the economic crisis, let alone to accuse
the immigrants for this crisis, expressing views or dictating the immigration
policy.
Because,
S.Z. has not yet been submitted to a DNA test (that could prove his Syrian
origin), while his brother has given blood for DNA testing.
Because, the
detention pending for deportation and the detention due to an asylum seeking
request are embedded in two different legal procedures (see decision dated 30.11.2009, Case C-357/2009 PPU, Said
Shamilovich Kadzoev (Huchbarov), Special Rescue Forces 2010), and because the
Greek State cannot – by all means – punish by imprisonment any one who is
seeking asylum.
Because,
both of you Honourable Ministers are aware of the problem of illegal detention
in police cells and especially the inhuman conditions and did nothing to take
initiatives in order to address it; we, the undersigned six Members of the
Greek Parliament, submitted in July 24, 2013 a relevant report – that falls within
the scope of the parliamentary control procedures.
Because,
both Ministers are also aware of the risks that Syrian refugees - asylum
seekers face in Greece, an issue that has been repeatedly put under
parliamentary control procedures, but with no commitment from the Ministers.
Given the
ease with which the Authorities resort to the measure of detention,
particularly in the case of Syrian refugees, this measure has even led to
family tragedies, as in the case of Ouasim Ampounachi at Samos Island
Since there
may be an eventual deportation of the Syrian lawyer, who has been targeted as an
advocate of the Assad’s regime opponents, putting his life in immediate threat.
The
Honourable Ministers are asked to give answers to the following:
· In which
way can they ensure the legality of the procedures in the case of the Syrian
lawyer who is illegally detained?
· With
which initiatives they can guarantee that refugees coming from war-torn
countries, and especially from Syria Greece
· How do they
intend to prevent practically any abuse by the authorities, police forces and judiciary
authorities, for the detention of refugees and migrants, due to fact that the detention
centres all over Greece
· Since the
cases of arbitrary judicial and police treatment of refugees and immigrants obviously
tend to multiply, and their training proves to be insufficient in practice,
what are the steps they intend to take in order to strengthen their work and
especially to defend the rights of vulnerable groups?
The
enquiring MPs
