A/HRC/35/25/Add.2 15. Since publication of the last report (A/HRC/23/46/Add.4), the European Court of Human Rights has handed down the following judgments concerning Greece: 16. In Sharifi and others v. Italy and Greece,4 the European Court of Human Rights found that it was for the refouling State to assure that the receiving State offers sufficient guarantees that an individual will not be removed without an assessment of the risks faced in his or her country of origin. 17. In its judgment in B.A.C. v. Greece,5 the European Court of Human Rights found that Greece had violated the right of an asylum seeker to respect for his private life, due to the failure of the Greek authorities to deal effectively with his asylum application. The applicant had waited for the asylum appeal decision for 12 years. 18. Furthermore, the European Court of Human Rights has handed down various decisions concerning the inhumane and degrading detention conditions of migrants in Greece, such as in Horshill v. Greece6 and Sakir v. Greece,7 furthermore stating that no effective remedy had been available to complain about the conditions of detention. In Mahammed and others v. Greece, it additionally found shortcomings in the procedure reviewing the lawfulness of the applicants’ administrative detention. 8 B. National legal, institutional and policy framework 1. Legal framework 19. In this section, the Special Rapporteur will touch only upon legislation introduced following his first country visit to Greece in 2012. Since then, there has been a significant degree of reform in relation to the legal framework concerning the human rights of migrants within Greece. 20. Law 3386/2005 was amended by Law 4521/2014 which was enacted to transpose into Greek law Directive 2011/98/EU and Directive 2014/36/EU. Law 3386/2005 is the main law governing migration. Law 4521/2014 has since been amended by Law 4332/2015. 21. Under article 121 of Law 4249/2014, irregular entry into Greece has been defined as a penal offence. The Public Prosecutor has the option, within 48 hours of an irregular entry, to press charges against or to abstain from pressing charges against the individual entering in an irregular manner. 22. Law 4375/2016 was adopted under an urgent procedure on 31 March 2016 and entered into force on 3 April 2016, to transpose into Greek legislation the provisions of Directive 2013/32/EU and Directive 2013/33/EU, as well as to transpose legal reforms needed for the implementation of the European Union-Turkey statement of 18 March 2016. Law 4375/2016 introduces a considerable number of changes to the institutional framework, the first reception procedures, the asylum procedure, the labour rights of beneficiaries of international protection and to the management of refugees entering Greece. 23. The asylum procedure is governed by a twofold legal framework under Presidential Decree 114/2010 for claims lodged before 7 June 2013 (the “old procedure”) and Presidential Decree 113/2013 for applications filed after that date (the “new procedure”), which were repealed by Law 4375/2016. Law 4399/2016, adopted after the Special Rapporteur’s visit, provides further provisions on the asylum procedure. 4 5 6 7 8 4 Sharifi and others v. Italy and Greece, European Court of Human Rights, No. 16643/09, 21 October 2014. B.A.C. v. Greece, European Court of Human Rights, No. 11981/15, 13 October 2016. Horshill v. Greece, European Court of Human Rights, No. 70427/11, 1 November 2013. Sakir v. Greece, European Court of Human Rights, No. 48475/09, 24 March 2016. Mahammed and others v. Greece, European Court of Human Rights, No. 48352/12, 15 January 2015.