Malakasa reception and identification centre
Gerakini army camp, Malakasa, Attica 19011 (Municipality of Oropos) · Oropos, Attica
The Malakasa reception and identification centre is a state centre for people in the asylum procedure on the former Gerakini army camp at Malakasa, in the Municipality of Oropos, north of Athens. It is run by the Reception and Identification Service (RIS) of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum and is in use. The ministry's reply to a parliamentary question of 6 February 2026, as published by Refugee Support Aegean, gives a nominal capacity of 3,471 places, an actual capacity of 2,554 places and 2,250 residents at 31 December 2025. The ministry's page gives 3,471 places on 119 stremmata. AIDA's table for June 2025 gives 2,608 places and 1,876 people.
Key facts
- Type
- Reception and identification centre
- Run by
- Reception and Identification Service (RIS), Ministry of Migration and Asylum
- Address
- Gerakini army camp, Malakasa, Attica 19011 (Municipality of Oropos), Oropos, Attica
- Capacity
- 3,471 places (as at 31 December 2025)Source: Ministry reply of 6 February 2026, via RSA: nominal capacity at 31 December 2025
- People counted there
- 2,250 (as at 31 December 2025)Source: Ministry reply of 6 February 2026, via RSA: residents at 31 December 2025
- Status
- In use (as at 31 December 2025)
- Opened
- Not published on the ministry page. AIDA says Malakasa and Diavata have been the mainland asylum registration points since September 2022.
Background
According to AIDA it is one of the two mainland reception and identification centres where people already on the mainland register asylum claims (the other is Diavata), and it also houses people in a camp section. AIDA reports that it was full in 2024 and 2025, so that some arrivals were redirected to Fylakio, that containers have leaks, insects and rodents, and that residents protested about conditions in January 2025. The Greek Ombudsperson noted in 2024 high concrete fences and double fencing topped with barbed wire. Kathimerini reported on 18 May 2026 that the European Public Prosecutor's Office is examining the management of funds for building reception facilities in 2020 and 2021, including the direct-award contract (without a tender) for the expansion of this camp, an initial contract of EUR 4.3 million; the article says the probe began in 2024, and no charges were reported.
Reported incidents
No reported incident is listed for this site. An incident is listed only if a mainstream, court, police or official source reports it, so an empty list does not mean that none occurred.
Sources
- Ministry of Migration and Asylum: page of the Malakasa centre (read on 4 October 2026) · official source
- Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), March 2026: figures from the Ministry reply (ref. 24237) of 6 February 2026 to parliamentary question 2309/177 · third-party source, not official
- AIDA / ECRE, Country Report Greece, 2025 Update (July 2026) · third-party source, not official
- Kathimerini, 18 May 2026: the European Public Prosecutor's Office and reception facility funding · press
The Ministry of Migration and Asylum publishes a page for each reception structure with its name and address, but no coordinates, and its list is not kept up to date. For the five island centres the figures are those of the National Situational Picture (NSP) of 1 September 2026. For the mainland they are those of the ministry's reply to a parliamentary question of 6 February 2026 (figures at 31 December 2025), as published by Refugee Support Aegean, with the table of the AIDA country report (July 2026) for June 2025 beside them. Capacity is the figure each source gives, nominal unless the page says otherwise, and is not a headcount; where sources differ, each figure is shown with its date. For Samos and Leros the pre-removal detention places that the ministry's pages describe are subtracted from the NSP figure, and our Samos and Leros pages say so. Positions are placed by hand from map features and addresses and are approximate. No cost is published for any single site. Incidents are listed only where a mainstream, court, police or official source reports them, with the stage reached; an empty list does not mean that none occurred.