REPORTS
The case of Zographos and others v. Greece – European Court finds Greece to be in violation of Article 13 of the ECHR.
Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (hereafter the ECHR) establishes the right of anyone whose rights under the ECHR have been violated to have access to an effective remedy before national authorities, and imposes an obligation on the State to provide appropriate remedies for this purpose.
The non-existence in Greek law of a real and effective remedy allowing individuals to complain about the conditions under which they are detained in Greek prisons has several times been the basis for the conviction of the country for violations of Article 13 of the ECHR (see inter alia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). In May 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the ECtHR) issued its judgment (see 1, 2) in the case of Zographos and Others v. Greece (application no. 29744/13). In the present case, 34 applicants complained both about the conditions of their detention in the rural prison of Kassandra (see their relevant allegations in paragraphs 6-12 and 83-90 of the judgment) and about the absence in national law of an effective remedy enabling them to complain about those conditions. The appeals of applicants 3, 5, 8, 8, 9, 15, 18, 21 to 25, 29 and 31 were dismissed for failure to exhaust domestic remedies in accordance with Article 35 paragraphs 1 and 4 of the ECHR (see paragraphs 60-73 and 131).
The ECtHR, ruling on the merits of the case for the other applicants, concluded that there was no violation of Article 3 ECHR, stating inter alia that there was no problem of overcrowding in the prison in question and that the applicants did not describe/identify other specific conditions of detention that could lead to the conclusion that they were detained in conditions amounting to inhuman or degrading treatment (see more in paragraphs 104-107 and 112-125).
On the other hand, the ECtHR, examining the cases of applicants 1, 2, 4, 6, 10 to 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 26 to 28, 30 and 32 to 34 and their period of detention in the closed prison section, seeing no reason to depart in this case from its established case-law on the subject, concluded that there had been a violation of Article 13 of the ECHR in conjunction with Article 3, as the applicants had no effective and real remedy available to them to enable them to complain about the conditions of their detention.
Respect for fundamental rights is one of the key components of a state that is governed by the rule of law. The fundamental rights that every citizen should enjoy are enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. It is a primary and indisputable obligation of the state to respect these rights.
In this particular case, however, the European Court of Human Rights held that there had been a breach of Article 13 in conjunction with Article 3 by Greece, since no effective remedy was available to the applicants to enable them to complain about the conditions of their detention in the closed section of Kassandra prison.
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