In Brief
AMNESTY ANGRY
Watchdog slams treatment of migrants and asylum seekers Amnesty International has urged Greek authorities to stop treating asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants as criminals and improve substandard detention conditions. In a report published yesterday, the human rights group condemned authorities for detaining migrants in dirty, overcrowded centers and often confining unaccompanied minors in poor conditions together with adults. «Asylum seekers and irregular migrants are not criminals. Yet the Greek authorities treat them as such, disregarding their rights under international law,» said Nicola Duckworth, AI’s Europe and Central Asia program director. LEGAL CHALLENGE Lawyers appeal crisis measures The Athens Bar Association (ABA) confirmed yesterday that tomorrow it will submit the first legal challenge to the contents of the agreement between the government and the European Union and International Monetary Fund, which requires Greece to slash public spending and carry out a series of economic reforms. The ABA, civil servants’ union ADEDY and several other organizations have argued that the measures are unconstitutional and would not stand up in court. ABA said in a statement yesterday that «social rights» could not be challenged, «regardless of how unfavorable the economic circumstances are.» Road safety A new organization will be created to oversee the reliability of checks carried out on vehicles by KTEO roadworthiness inspection centers. Transport Minister Dimitris Reppas said that a suspiciously high proportion of cars and motorcycles (90 percent) pass the tests without any problems being identified. A draft law foresees the creation of a separate organization to check whether these inspections are being carried out properly. Vatopedi deal New Democracy officials yesterday delivered to the Supreme Court four independent reports into the Vatopedi real estate swap, which the conservative party believes confirms that taxpayers did not lose out as a result of the exchange. Under the previous ND administration, the state exchanged valuable public property for land of an allegedly lesser value with the Mount Athos monastery. The swap is the subject of parliamentary and judicial probes. Conservative officials deny any wrongdoing and the party said yesterday that the reports underline that the state did not suffer any financial damages from the transaction. Fatal plunge Authorities in Arizona said yesterday that they had recovered the body of a 20-year-old unnamed Greek tourist, who apparently fell about 180 meters off a cliff at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, local media reported. National Park Service rangers responded to a report on Saturday that a man fell from the Horseshoe Bend Overlook, The Associated Press said. Grim discovery Rescue workers yesterday recovered the body of a drowned 17-year-old migrant, missing since Sunday after he went for a swim off the coast of Zacharo in the western Peloponnese. The search for the teenager took a tragic turn on Sunday when the youth’s father drowned off the coast of Zacharo after swimming out to look for his son.
