CAT/C/GRC/CO/7 Excessive use of force 26. The Committee is concerned at reports of excessive use of force by law enforcement officers acting to disperse demonstrators during the period under review. These include beatings of, and the shooting of tear-gas canisters directly at, people during an anti-fascist protest in Keratsini in 2013, and police violence and extensive use of tear gas against migrants and asylum seekers protesting about living conditions in the reception and identification centres at the “hotspots” of Moria, Lesbos, and of Samos, in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Regarding the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the police in 2008, the Committee takes note of the information provided by the delegation that, while the criminal proceedings were still pending following an appeal, a settlement was reached on compensation, which was effectively paid in 2017. It notes, however, that no specific information was provided by the State party regarding the judgment in Makaratzis v. Greece and other cases of torture or ill-treatment examined by the European Court of Human Rights. The Committee is also concerned at reports about the ill-treatment of persons in police custody, including for the purpose of obtaining confessions, at the Agios Panteleimonas police station in Athens and at the Plateia Dimokratias police station in Thessaloniki (arts. 11 and 16). 27. The State party should: (a) Review the crowd control procedures applied by the Hellenic Police in the context of demonstrations, including the use of tear gas, handheld batons and shields, to ensure that they are not used indiscriminately and excessively or against peaceful protestors, and that their use does not result in an escalation of tension; (b) Ensure that prompt, impartial and effective investigations are undertaken into all allegations relating to ill-treatment and the excessive use of force by law enforcement officers, in particular members of the Hellenic Police, and ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted and the victims are adequately compensated; (c) Increase the efforts to systematically provide training to all law enforcement officers on the use of force, especially in the context of demonstrations, taking into account the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Prompt, thorough and impartial investigations 28. The Committee is concerned at the fact that the State party has not furnished complete information on the number of complaints of torture or ill-treatment, including excessive use of force, or on the corresponding investigations and prosecutions during the reporting period. According to the information provided by the delegation, between 2012 and 2018, six court cases were brought for acts of torture, which resulted in five convictions, with prison sentences ranging from one to seven years. However, the Committee has not received comprehensive information about the disciplinary sanctions imposed on the offenders, nor an indication whether the alleged perpetrators of those acts have been removed from public service pending the outcome of the investigation of the complaints (arts. 12 and 13). 29. The Committee urges the State party to: (a) Ensure that all complaints of torture and ill-treatment are promptly investigated in an impartial manner by an independent body, that there is no institutional or hierarchical relationship between that body’s investigators and the suspected perpetrators of such acts, and that the suspected perpetrators are duly tried and, if found guilty, punished in a manner commensurate with the gravity of their acts; (b) Ensure that the authorities launch investigations whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that an act of torture or ill-treatment has been committed; (c) Ensure that, in cases of alleged torture or ill-treatment, suspected perpetrators are suspended from duty immediately for the duration of the investigation, particularly when there is a risk that they might otherwise be in a 7