Sintiki (Kleidi) special detention facility
Promachonas, Kleidi site, Sintiki 62300 · Sintiki, Central Macedonia
Immigration detention, not accommodation
This is a place of custody pending removal. It is not accommodation, its places are not counted as accommodation capacity anywhere on this site, and it is shown apart from the reception sites.
Greek immigration detention is run by the Hellenic Police. Its centres hold people pending removal, and AIDA reports that some of them are asylum applicants. They are shown apart and never counted as reception capacity.
The Sintiki (Kleidi) centre, near the Promachonas border crossing with Bulgaria and about 40 km north of Serres, is listed by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum as a controlled temporary accommodation centre. AIDA reports that a Special Detention Facility, run by the Hellenic Police, was set up in July 2025 in part of the centre. We show the site as detention, not accommodation, and its places are not counted as accommodation capacity. The ministry's reply to a parliamentary question of 6 February 2026, as published by Refugee Support Aegean, gives a nominal capacity of 751 places, an actual capacity of 666 places and 599 residents of the centre at 31 December 2025. AIDA gives 558 people administratively detained in the Special Detention Facility on that date, a count for the part of the centre it describes, and 733 places and 499 people for June 2025. Kathimerini reported in May 2026 that the camp was built for 900 places.
Key facts
- Type
- Special detention facility
- Run by
- Listed by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (RIS) as a controlled temporary accommodation centre; the guarded facility within it is run by the Hellenic Police (AIDA)
- Address
- Promachonas, Kleidi site, Sintiki 62300, Sintiki, Central Macedonia
- Capacity
- 751 places (as at 31 December 2025)Source: Ministry reply (ref. 24237, 6 February 2026) to parliamentary question 2309/177, as published by RSA: nominal capacity at 31 December 2025
- People counted there
- 599 (as at 31 December 2025)Source: Ministry reply (ref. 24237, 6 February 2026) to parliamentary question 2309/177, as published by RSA: residents of the centre at 31 December 2025
- Opened
- The construction contract for the Kleidi camp was awarded in July 2020 (Kathimerini). AIDA says the Special Detention Facility was set up in July 2025 in part of the centre, under the Hellenic Police.
Background
The Sintiki municipal council voted a resolution asking for the immediate closure of the facility, Kathimerini reported on 24 August 2026. Kathimerini reported on 18 May 2026 that the European Public Prosecutor's Office is examining the 2020 direct-award construction contract (without a tender) for the Kleidi camp, initial cost EUR 3.6 million; no charges were reported. The ministry still lists the site among its controlled temporary accommodation centres, and this page treats the guarded facility as detention because AIDA describes it as a special detention facility under the Hellenic Police.
Reported incidents
Listed only where a mainstream, court, police or official source reports the incident. Each entry names its source and the stage the case had reached, and no one is named.
- 12 November 2025Convictedsentences reduced on appeal
Skai reported on 14 November 2025 that 30 men tried under the flagrante procedure by the Serres Misdemeanours Court over unrest at the facility on 12 November were found guilty of mutiny and, as applicable, incitement to commit crimes and violence against officials, and were given unsuspended sentences of between 3 years and 3 years 7 months. infonews24 reported on 30 June 2026 that the Serres Court of Appeal then reduced the sentences of 16 of them from three years to 14 months, finding them guilty of mutiny only and acquitting them of the charge of damage; for the other 14 it struck the conviction for damage and kept the two-year sentence for mutiny. No names were given.
Sources
- Ministry of Migration and Asylum: page of the Sintiki 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
- Skai, 14 November 2025: sentences for 30 people over the unrest at the Sintiki facility · press
- infonews24, 30 June 2026: the Serres Court of Appeal reduces sentences over the unrest at the Kleidi facility · press
- Kathimerini, 24 August 2026: the Sintiki municipal council asks for the facility to close · press
- 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.