{"id":26015,"date":"2026-02-25T08:02:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/?p=26015"},"modified":"2026-02-25T08:02:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:02:35","slug":"criminalisation-of-illegal-stay-in-greece-puts-almost-300-people-behind-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/criminalisation-of-illegal-stay-in-greece-puts-almost-300-people-behind-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"Criminalisation of \u201cillegal stay\u201d in Greece puts almost 300 people behind bars"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"26015\" class=\"elementor elementor-26015 elementor-25936\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a6f2307 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"a6f2307\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-04481cf elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-title elementor-page-title elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"04481cf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-title.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Criminalisation of \u201cillegal stay\u201d in Greece puts almost 300 people behind bars<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-121d39d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"121d39d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Statistics on the implementation of the September 2025 reform<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a33c1f7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a33c1f7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The nefarious effects of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/el\/nomoschedio-epistrofon-comments\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unfair and excessive<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> penal sanctions for \u201cillegal\u201d entry, exit and stay offences enacted by Greece in a September reform breaching the fundamental right to asylum and European Union law are confirmed by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hellenicparliament.gr\/Koinovouleftikos-Elenchos\/Mesa-Koinovouleutikou-Elegxou?pcm_id=876fb73c-8a76-4995-81ed-b3d200e588ad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">official statistics<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following an amendment introduced in September 2025, Greek law punishes the offences of illegal entry, exit and stay by a term of imprisonment of at least two years. The imprisonment sentence may only be suspended if the person declares their intention to immediately leave the territory. Even where the sentence is suspended, convicted persons continue to be detained in prisons or in pre-removal detention centres of the Hellenic Police until they depart from Greece.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Greek prosecutors charged more than 800 people based on the new provisions from the entry into force of the reform until the end of 2025. Most prosecutions concerned \u201cillegal entry\u201d and \u201cillegal stay\u201d offences. The overwhelming majority of prosecutions led to convictions in court.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1db2e98 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"1db2e98\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/27774419\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><noscript><img src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/27774419\/thumbnail\" width=\"100%\" alt=\"visualization\" \/><\/noscript><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7964fb4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"7964fb4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/27774501\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><noscript><img src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/27774501\/thumbnail\" width=\"100%\" alt=\"visualization\" \/><\/noscript><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8bf9af5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"8bf9af5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The process of collection of the above data regrettably corroborates <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/el\/i-katastasi-tou-kratous-dikaiou-stin-ellada-simera-2026\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">constant gaps<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the quality of Greek court statistics. The data supplied by the Ministry of Justice on prosecutions disaggregated by prosecution service present several gaps and contradictions that hamper any accurate understanding of the cases processed by each prosecutor\u2019s office. For instance, zero figures are reported for prosecutions and rulings in the Athens Prosecutor\u2019s Office, while two different tables with diverging figures are reported for the Tripoli Prosecutor\u2019s Office.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The implementation of the new rules and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/crete-2025-fourfold-increase-in-refugee-arrivals-absence-of-state-planning\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rise<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in criminal proceedings on Crete merit particular consideration. Ministry of Justice data refer to 200 cases for illegal entry launched by the Chania and Heraklion Prosecutors\u2019 Offices. The latter also launched proceedings for illegal exit and stay.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost 300 people remained deprived of their liberty after a conviction for illegal entry, exit or stay offences at the end of last year. Of those, 154 served a prison sentence in prisons and 131 were detained in pre-removal detention centres after expressing their intention to immediately depart from Greece.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3f64d69 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"3f64d69\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/27774584\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><noscript><img src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/27774584\/thumbnail\" width=\"100%\" alt=\"visualization\" \/><\/noscript><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d681b63 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d681b63\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main countries of origin of people deprived of their liberty based on the new Greek criminal provisions include Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Nationals of these countries largely receive international protection in Greece. According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hellenicparliament.gr\/Koinovouleftikos-Elenchos\/Mesa-Koinovouleutikou-Elegxou?pcm_id=c96a0ae5-5381-4783-9abd-b3d200e589cc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">official statistics<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Asylum Service for 2025, the recognition rate of asylum applications processed on the merits stood at 99.8% for Afghanistan, 90.7% for Syria and 62.3% for Iraq.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Statistics on the implementation of the September 2025 eform<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":26022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[248,141,243,207,5,137],"tags":[348,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-26015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detention","8":"category-detention-and-reception-conditions","9":"category-facts-and-figures","10":"category-other-topics","11":"category-publications","12":"category-topics","13":"tag-348","14":"tag-featured"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26015"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26024,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26015\/revisions\/26024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsaegean.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}