Published on 7 April 2025
 
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 34712/23
Z.H. and S.T.H.
against Greece
lodged on 19 September 2023
communicated on 21 March 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the allegedly unlawful detention and the living conditions of the applicants, a mother and her minor daughter, in the Closed Controlled Access Center (CCAC) of Samos.
The applicants arrived in Greece on 16 August 2023 and were taken to the CCAC of Samos, which they were not allowed to leave as long as the reception and identification procedures provided for by Law no. 4939/2022 had not been completed.
On 1 September 2023, the CCAC’s deputy director issued a decision according to which the applicants’ liberty was to be restricted during a five‑day period following their entry into the CCAC. The decision specified that the applicants entered the CCAC on 17 August 2023.
On 19 September 2023, the registration procedure was completed as the applicants were issued with asylum seekers’ cards.
On 26 September 2023, the applicants were transferred to another CCAC in the mainland.
The applicants complain about their living conditions in the CCAC of Samos, including the lack of access to appropriate medical care for the second applicant. They specify that they had to stay in the “general population area” in the absence of special arrangements for most vulnerable groups such as single-parent families. They also complain that the decisions concerning their restriction of liberty were issued fifteen days after their admission in the CCAC of Samos and not within five days as provided for by Article 40 of Law no. 4939/2022.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1.  Having regard to the fact that the applicants were a single mother and her minor daughter, and with further regard to their allegations about the lack of access to appropriate medical care for the second applicant, were their living conditions in the CCAC of Samos compatible with Article 3 of the Convention?
 
2.  Did the applicants’ stay in the CCAC of Samos amount to a deprivation of liberty within the meaning of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention? If so: a) was the applicants’ deprivation of liberty “lawful” and ordered “in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law”, for the purposes of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention? b) were the applicants informed promptly of the reasons for their deprivation of liberty, as required by Article 5 § 2 of the Convention? c) did the applicants have at their disposal a remedy by which they could challenge the lawfulness of their deprivation of liberty, as required by Article 5 § 4 of the Convention?
 
3.  Has there been a violation of the applicants’ right to respect for their private life, within the meaning of Article 8 of the Convention, and in particular their right to physical and psychological integrity?