This case concerned six asylum seekers in Greece who challenged the conditions of their reception and detention. They were held in overcrowded and unsanitary detention centres and reception facilities with inadequate hygiene, poor access to medical care, and restrictions on association and correspondence. The applicants claimed violation of Article 3 (Prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 13 (Right to effective remedy), and Article 5 (Right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Court found that: a) the poor living and detention conditions amounted to inhuman and degrading conditions, b) the applicants’ detention was unlawful, lacking sufficient legal justification and procedural safeguards, and c) Greece failed to provide effective domestic remedies to challenge their detention and detention conditions. Following the findings above, violations of Articles 3, 5, and 13 were established and Greece was ordered to pay just satisfaction to the applicants.
Read the full decision here.case