Religion – Weltanschauung – Recht [ RWR ]

The applicants are 12 asylum seekers who left their countries at unknown dates, mainly on account of the political situations there. The case concerns the conditions of their detention pending their removal from Greece to their countries of origin.

After fleeing their respective countries, they arrived in Greece in 2009 seeking political asylum. On different dates they were transferred to the Venna detention centre for several months while awaiting deportation. During that period they lodged objections about the conditions of their detention, submitting that those conditions were unacceptable, in particular because of a lack of hygiene in their cells and the confined space in which they were held without any possibility of outdoor exercise. Except for one of them, who obtained political refugee status in December 2009, the applicants were either deported to their countries of origin or to Turkey, or released, in 2010. They allege that the conditions of their detention in the Venna centre entailed a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment). Relying on Article 5 (right to liberty and security), they further complain that their detention in that centre was unlawful. Lastly, under Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion), they complain that, as Muslims, they often had to choose between eating pork or nothing at all, as the Greek authorities did not offer them any alternative meals.

Press release ECHR 341 (2013) 10/12/2013