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The public complaint of the Council of Europe for the conditions in reception centres for illegal immigrants and the state of prisons in the country caused controversy in the relationship between the Greek Ministry for Citizens Protection and the European organisation. It is worth noting that this is a measure to which the Council of Europe has resorted only five other times since 1989. Two of the public complaints concerned Turkey and the other three Chechnya.

The purpose of the complaint, written in a very sharp tone, is to emphasize the longstanding refusal of Greece to comply with the guidelines of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which has visited the country 10 times since 1993. The Committee believes that Athens had not complied with its guidelines but the attitude towards illegal immigrants and prisoners had worsen in recent years and in most cases the Greek authorities had provided false information about the measures taken.

"The Committee’s attempts to conduct a constructive dialogue with the Greek authorities were constant, but the continued lack of action does not give us any other option but to resort to public complaint." The text also states that, even during its visit in 1997, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture expressed concern about the conditions in reception centres for illegal immigrants and that the reports of 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009 repeated one and the same set of data, but Athens continued to ignore its instructions.

The visit of the Committee of the Council of Europe in September 2009 "showed that conditions have deteriorated further in fact." In January 2010 the Committee conducted high-level talks with the Greek authorities, which "continued to claim that measures have been taken to improve conditions." In particular, the complaint stated a letter dated November 23^rd, 2009, by which Athens has informed the Committee for the Prevention of Torture that "administrative detention of illegal immigrants at border points and police stations will be suspended" and that "the detention centre in Piraeus for which the Committee had expressed a number of negative opinions in 1997 was to be demolished in early 2010."

"Unfortunately, during the visit of the Committee in January 2011 it became clear that the information provided by the Greek authorities does not reflect reality." The public complaint contains examples of the centre for illegal immigrants in Soufli near the border with Turkey, where members of the Committee, in their attempt to enter the building, were forced to pass over people lying on the floor. Moreover, the immigrants were not allowed to change their clothes and often women and men were in common premises. In the nearby village Filakio, families of illegal immigrants with children have been detained for weeks and even months in overcrowded, dirty and not hygienic premises "like cells". As for the centre in Piraeus, immigrants are still detained there in conditions much worse than those described in the report of 1997."

A similar change for the worse was observed in the last ten years in the prisons in Amfissa, in the male and female prison in Korydallos, "even in new prisons as in Domokos." According to the Committee, the fact that the Greek authorities do not even recognize that there is a problem in prisons is very disturbing.

The Committee for the Prevention of Torture which has examined 300 cases during the 22 years since its establishment recognizes that it is difficult for Greece to cope with the huge influx of illegal immigrants due to its geographical location. The Committee urged the international community and especially the European Union to help the country in practice, not just in the form of regulations.

The Greek Ministry for Citizens Protection responded to the public complaint with a message stating that the government has accepted the criticism of the Committee to a certain degree and has initiated improving the situation. However, the department considered that the "Committee for the Prevention of Torture has not been willing to take into account the intense immigrant pressure Greece has been coping with."

It is also stated in the message that "the country continues to introduce the announced measures," approved by the European Union in connection with the establishment of a new service to grant asylum, with the reception centres providing decent conditions for staying.

"In any case, it is unfair for issues of illegal immigration to be considered an issue only of Greece’s concern. However, the fact that it has been defined recently a European issue and that other member states have taken initiatives within the Greek action plan for the control of immigration flows is encouraging," stated the message.