Human rights commissioner Maria Stylianou Lottides on Friday expressed concern that third country nationals who are detained in Cyprus due to not having the requisite residence documents are often subject to “prolonged administrative detention” in police holding cells.

She said during a meeting with the Council of Europe’s committee for the prevention of torture that it had been found that people had been left in holding cells in Larnaca and Limassol for as long as six months.

“Police holding cells should not be used for prolonged administrative detention,” she said, before adding that those who are currently being kept in holding cells be “transferred as soon as possible to specialised facilities”, such as the migrant detention centre in Limnes, near the Larnaca district village of Menoyia.

On this front, she said that the detention facilities at both Larnaca and Paphos airport are “not suitable for detention for more than a very short period of time”, as the facilities at both airports “do not provide access to outdoor space, natural light, or fresh air”.

She added that people should not be held in the cells at either airport for more than 24 hours and called for the creation of an “appropriate alternative facility”.

Additionally, she made reference to the Pournara migrant reception centre, saying that while there have been “substantial improvements” to the state of affairs there in recent years, there does remain a number of unaccompanied minors at the centre.

In total, she said, 143 people are currently housed at the Pournara centre, of whom eight are unaccompanied minors. She added that those eight are “expected to be transferred soon to specialised accommodation facilities”.

She pointed out that this figure represents a sizeable reduction compared to 2022, with more than 2,000 people having once been housed at the centre.

Mitchell, meanwhile, focused more closely on the central prison, saying that when he first visited Cyprus on behalf of the committee in 2008, around 520 inmates were housed there, with that number having more than doubled in the intervening 18 years.

“This increase creates enormous challenges for both staff and prisoners’ living conditions,” he said, before adding that overcrowding has “led to an increase in violence between prisoners” and has “made it more difficult for staff to effectively control the wings”.

He also said that the absence of a permanent governor at the central prison has “negatively affected the operation of the penitentiary system”, though he welcomed plans to build a new prison in the Nicosia district village of Mathiatis and hire 80 new prison wardens.

Later, he said that the situation regarding reports of abuse of people arrested on the part of the police has “improved significantly” since 2008.

Then, he said, reports on Cyprus would contain “particularly harsh references” to incidents concerning “deliberate physical ill-treatment” of persons in custody.

He said that today, while there remain “some credible allegations”, the state of affairs is “almost unrecognisable”.