A/HRC/16/52/Add.4 Omonia Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Athens Visited on 10 October 2010 The Special Rapporteur was received by Mr. Ioannis Athanasakis, Police Officer A, who explained that the CID was completely separated from the police department with a different chain of command. The criminal investigation department was at the third floor of Omonia Police Station and the authorities only opened the door to the offices after some insistence. At the entrance of the department, right next to the offices of the criminal investigators, 27 detainees were kept in the lobby. All detainees were foreigners being held on the suspicion of a criminal offence. According to information provided by the Government on 3 March 2011, the detainees were reportedly detained at the office of the Officer on Duty because the detention facilities of the said Police Station were full. The lobby was completely overcrowded and providing only some chairs completely unsuitable for even short-term detention. The detainees had to sleep on the chairs or on paper cartons spread out on the floor. They were not provided with blankets. There was no shower and only one toilet for all detainees making it difficult to regularly access the toilets. Only after hesitation a list but no register of the detainees was provided by the officers. Although the detainees appeared to be unofficially detained the authorities insisted that they were not trying to hide them. The detainees at the CID were said to be brought before a judge and subsequently released, transferred to a prison or kept under administrative detention. Individual cases E., aged 17, from Algeria, was arrested at the Turkish border and recorded as being aged 20. He stated his stay in CID was a nightmare, that he could not take a shower, or call any member of his family. He also stated that he suffers from asthma and that the smoke in the room was worsening his condition. H. M., aged 18, from Algeria, took a flight from Tunisia to Turkey and then a bus until the border. He was arrested, brought to Fylakio Migration Center, and then released. He spent 28 nights in the streets of Athens before being caught again in an identity check. A., aged 22, from Algeria, was beaten several times by the CID officers, who tighted him up to the bench in the room, put a motorbike helmet on his head to blindfold him, and used sticks on him. He said he was in CID custody for five days, and was previously held downstairs in the cells. He thinks he was moved up with the other detainees because the cells were being painted. He is held in administrative detention. Medi Salah from Palestine was arrested on 1 September 2010 and brought to Omonia Police Station. On 2 September the prosecutor ordered his release but the police continued to keep him in administrative detention as an illegal immigrant. On 15 September he was brought before a court. A male detainee from Albania complained that he was held in the CID for ten days upon arrest where he was successively beaten on the head for no apparent reason. Sahib Muhamad, aged 28, from Pakistan, was held in the CID for 21 days without a mattress or blanket. Upon arrest, all his belongings were taken from him. The first two weeks he was not allowed to take a shower and received no toothpaste. A male detainee, aged 31, from Nigeria was arrested at Omonia train station for allegedly selling drugs. Upon arrival at the CID he was continuously beaten on his arms to confess to the crime. He had spent one night at the CID without a mattress or blanket. He was not provided with food and was refused access to a doctor. He was not allowed to go to the toilet more than twice a day. He had been told he would be brought before a court the next day. 27