ECtHR chamber judgment in J.R. and Others v. Greece finding no violations of ECHR in regard to detention of Afghan nationals in Vial migrant centre in Greece

Court press release here.  Chamber judgment here (only available in French). (See also Court’s Fact Sheet “Migrants in Detention” here.)

Excerpt from Court’s press release:

25 January 2018 – In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of J.R. and Others v. Greece (application no. 22696/16) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

no violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights, a violation of Article 5 § 2 (right to be informed promptly of the reasons for arrest); no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment); and no violation of Article 34 (right of individual application).

The case concerned the conditions in which three Afghan nationals were held in the Vial reception centre, on the Greek island of Chios, and the circumstances of their detention.

The Court found in particular that the applicants had been deprived of their liberty for their first month in the centre, until 21 April 2016 when it became a semi-open centre. The Court was nevertheless of the view that the one-month period of detention, whose aim had been to guarantee the possibility of removing the applicants under the EU-Turkey Declaration, was not arbitrary and could not be regarded as “unlawful” within the meaning of Article 5 § 1 (f). However, the applicants had not been appropriately informed about the reasons for their arrest or the remedies available in order to challenge that detention.

As to the conditions of detention in the centre, the Court noted the emergency situation facing the Greek authorities after significant numbers of migrants had arrived and the ensuing material difficulties. It observed that several NGOs had visited the centre and had partly confirmed the applicants’ allegations, but found that the conditions were not severe enough for their detention to be characterised as inhuman or degrading treatment had not been reached.  [***]

Court press release here.  Chamber judgment here (only available in French). (See also Court’s Fact Sheet “Migrants in Detention” here.)