Athens, 18.11.08

Ref. No. 15501.08.2.1

Information by:

Ch. Papaharalambous,

Tel. : 0030-210-72 89 805

To the

Ombudsman of the Republic of Albania,

Boulv: "Zhan D' Arc". No 2,

1001, Tirana

ALBANIA

Dear Colleague,

Concerning the case of the alleged mistreatment of Albanian citizens serving their sentences in Patras Prison, to which your letter from 16.9.08 (under Ref. No. K3/K38-3 Prot. Nr. Dok. 200801747/3) refers, I would like to draw your attention to the following.

There is no doubt that detention conditions in Greek prisons are far from ideal. The problems of our penitentiary system ("exploded" again during these days of nation- wide prisoners' hunger strikes) have been reaffirmed, not only by the fact that our institution is steadily confronted with them through the petitions of Greek and foreign prisoners; they have also generated ECtHR decisions in Strasbourg condemning Greece on such grounds. It is also hardly doubtful that policemen's conduct is in many cases not the proper one: stereotyping, negative profiling, disguised xenophobic (even overtly racist) attitudes and discriminating violation of the proportionality principle (if not also sporadically exerted torturing of arrestees) tend to become, at times, endemic. Lastly, one cannot argue that infrastructure shortcomings, overpopulation and the lack of sanctions alternative to incarceration, contribute to further deterioration of the whole situation. For our part, we strive systematically to overturn hurdles imposed on our discretionary controlling power related to penitentiary institutions.

On the other hand, and not to be overlooked, is some peculiarity in the petition under discussion here. The allegations are vague; a more concise description of the situation would have been expected. In addition, the allegations as to the courts' attitudes, cannot, as we have already mentioned to you on numerous occasions, be scrutinized by us, since the law is quite explicit on this prohibition of our competence. Furthermore, addressing any Greek authority based on just this type of petition will prove useless if no specific administrative actions are identified obliging these authorities to answer.

I would therefore propose that the respective Albanian inmates lodge a petition with us as every person residing on Greek soil has the right to (in fact, many Albanian citizens, some of them imprisoned, have already done so), and that they be more specific concerning the facts, alleged conduct of the personnel involved and, generally speaking, provide more concrete evidence to demonstrate (even if, at least, "prima facie") maladtninistration and violation of rights in the sensitive field of the jails.

I look forward to receiving your comments to the above and remain,

Your Sincerely

Yorgos Kaminis