Annual Report | National Mechanism for the Investigation of Arbitrary Incidents

In 2025, the total number of 272 cases handled by the Ombudsman as EMIDIPA shows a significant increase of 53% compared to 2024. In absolute numbers per calendar year, this is the second-highest historically after 2021 (308 reports). Equally striking—over 70% compared to 2024—is the increase in complaints by citizens regarding incidents of abuse of power by security forces personnel. Furthermore, while the number of investigations ordered by the Hellenic Police in 2025 shows a significant increase of around 40% compared to 2024, of particular note is the corresponding rise in cases within the jurisdiction of the Hellenic Coast Guard, which nearly quadrupled in 2025.

Concerns persist over the zero referral of cases by the General Secretariat for Anti-Crime Policy for 2025 as well, regarding incidents of abuse by prison staff, including failures to protect inmates from inter-prisoner violence. Finally, three ruling judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) were forwarded to EMIDIPA in 2025 by the State Legal Council, pursuant to the Mechanism’s special competence to decide on re-opening administrative investigations into significant flaws in internal disciplinary inquiries of security forces identified in the Strasbourg Court’s decisions.

Regarding the Findings issued by EMIDIPA in 2025, a negative trend is underscored by the fact that in approximately two out of three cases processed and evaluated by the Mechanism, reservations were expressed regarding the thoroughness of the investigation conducted, accompanied by specific remarks and recommendations. Most findings concern violations of physical integrity or health and personal liberty, alongside issues regarding the protection of the right to life.

In 2025, the Mechanism also concluded its ex-officio investigation into the tragic Pylos shipwreck. The Independent Authority’s finding was transmitted on February 3, 2025, to the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy for the exercise of disciplinary jurisdiction, and simultaneously to the competent Prosecutorial Authority of the Piraeus Naval Court for evaluating the objective and subjective elements of the relevant criminal offenses. While criminal justice expanded the initial indictment and the circle of suspects within a supplementary preliminary examination, the political leadership of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy continues to abstain from performing its disciplinary duties, pursuing tactics reasonably characterized as dilatory, accompanied by systematic and persistent attempts to delegitimize the Authority, challenge its lawful actions, and attribute sinister, biased motives.