Project’s contribution to the improvement of domestic remedy
The European Court of Human Rights has recognised in its recent decision that judicial trainings and capacity-building activities, facilitated by the project, contributed to the improvement of domestic remedy concerning poor conditions of detention in Greece.
In this decision the Court has underlined the impact of the cooperation between Greek authorities and the Council of Europe supported by the project.
In Manavidis v. Greece case the Court examined the application on the conditions of detention and lack of effective domestic remedy in this regard and analyzed the domestic practice accompanying the domestic remedy introduced in 2022. In its decision the Court recognized that the effectiveness of this remedy was impacted by the legal reform of procedural law for prisons and institutional and capacity-building measures. The Court described the judicial trainings to be part of a set of measures which correlated with “a significant evolution in domestic judicial practice.”
Notably, the launching of judicial trainings for Greek judges and prosecutors, organized with the Council of Europe “HELP” program in collaboration with the project was highlighted in the decision (the HELP course Assessing Conditions of Detention Complaints was was developed by HELP programme in cooperation with the Registry of the European Court and the Department for the Execution of ECtHR Judgments and launched at a seminar in Thessaloniki on 13 March 2026).
The HELP course on Assessing Conditions of Detention Complaints aims at assisting legal professionals in the Council of Europe member States in effectively assessing complaints related to condition of detention, in compliance with the Court’s methodology. Its focus is on the key issues that the domestic authorities must address in their decisions: assessment of material conditions of detention, modifications in the distribution of the burden of proof, and the specifics of preventive and compensatory remedies, including the possible decisions to be taken.
The course is freely available in self-learning format for any interested legal professionals, on the Council of Europe HELP eLearning platform.
Link to the course brief