Mandrekas and Others v. Greece

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 29706/21 Ilias MANDREKAS against Greece and 4 other applications

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 26 March 2026 as a Committee composed of:

Diana Kovatcheva, President, Canòlic Mingorance Cairat, Vasilka Sancin, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above applications against the Hellenic Republic lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table,

Having regard to the declarations submitted by the respondent Government requesting the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases, and the applicants’ replies to these declarations,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.

The applicants were represented by Mr K. Tsitselikis, Mr A. Spathis, Mr E. Papoutsis, Mr Charilaos Ladis and Ms. M. Daliani, lawyers practising in Thessaloniki, Patras, and Athens respectively.

The applicants’ complaints under Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention were communicated to the Greek Government (“the Government”). In all applications except for applications nos. 31091/21 and 31072/21, complaints based on the same facts were also communicated under Article 13 of the Convention.

The Government submitted declarations with a view to resolving the issues raised by these complaints. They further invited the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention.

The Government acknowledged the inadequate conditions of detention at Korydallos and Patras Prisons. They offered to pay the applicants the amounts detailed in the appended table, provided that the applicants have not been awarded any compensation for the same reason under Article 6A of the Penitentiary Code or any other remedy, taking into consideration the duration of their detention in the abovementioned Detention Facilities in such conditions. The amounts would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay these amounts within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them, from the expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

The payment will constitute the final resolution of the cases.

The applicants informed the Court that they agreed to the terms of the declarations.

Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

The Court finds that, following the applicants’ express agreement to the terms of the declaration made by the Government, the cases should be treated as a friendly settlement between the parties in the part covered by the declarations.

It therefore takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify the continued examination of the applications in the part covered by the Government’s declarations as accepted by the applicants.

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike out of the Court’s list of cases applications nos. 31091/21 and 31072/21. It is also appropriate to strike out the remaining applications in the part covered by the Government’s declarations out of the Court’s list of cases.

As regards the remaining complaints raised by some of the applicants under Article 13 of the Convention, taking into account the facts of the cases, the Government’s declarations and the Court’s decision to strike out the part of the applications relating to the complaints under Article 3 of the Convention, the Court considers that the main legal question raised in the present applications has been resolved. It concludes, therefore, that there is no need to examine this part of the applications.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Decides to strike applications nos. 31091/21 and 31072 and the part of the other applications as covered by the Government’s declarations and accepted by the applicants, out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention;

Decides that there is no need to examine separately the remaining part of the applications.

Done in English and notified in writing on 16 April 2026.

Viktoriya Maradudina Diana Kovatcheva Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention

(inadequate conditions of detention)

No.

Application no. Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Representative’s name and location

Other complaints under well-established case-law

Date of receipt of Government’s declaration

Date of receipt of applicant’s acceptance

Amount awarded for non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses

(in euros) [1]

29706/21

11/05/2021

Ilias MANDREKAS

1980

Ladis Charilaos

Daliani Marina

Athens

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention

20/11/2025

24/11/2025

4,800

31072/21

28/04/2021

Muhammad ROZI

2001

Papoutsis Ermolaos

Patras

12/12/2025

16/01/2026

4,500

31091/21

28/04/2021

Georgios TSOLAKIS

1987

Papoutsis Ermolaos

Patras

12/12/2025

16/01/2026

5,700

37506/21

20/07/2021

Charalambos ANDRIOPOULOS

1961

Tsitselikis Konstantinos

Thessaloniki

Spathis Antonios

Thessaloniki

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention

20/11/2025

24/11/2025

4,500

35634/22

13/07/2022

Ilias ACHMETOV

1982

Tsitselikis Konstantinos

Thessaloniki

Spathis Antonios

Thessaloniki

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention

20/11/2025

24/11/2025

13,000

[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.