Communication No. 41/1996 Submitted by: Mrs. Pauline Muzonzo Paku Kisoki [represented by counsel] Alleged victim: The author State party: Sweden Date of communication: 12 February 1996 The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Meeting on 8 May 1996, Having concluded its consideration of communication No. 41/1996, submitted to the Committee against Torture on behalf of Mrs. Pauline Muzonzo Paku Kisoki under article 22 of the Convention, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the author of the communication, her counsel and the State party, Adopts the following: Views under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention 1. The author of the communication is Pauline Muzonzo Paku Kisoki, a Zairian citizen currently residing in Sweden, where she is seeking refugee status. She claims that her forced return to Zaire would constitute a violation by Sweden of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. She is represented by counsel. a/ The facts as submitted 2.1 The author states that on 18 October 1990, members of the government party MPR visited her restaurant in Kisanto, not far from Kinshasa, indicating that they wished to hold a party rally there the following day. The author refused this, since she was an activist of the opposition party UDPS and her husband worked as personal secretary to Mr. Bosasi Bolia, one of the leaders of the Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social (UDPS). 2.2 On 20 October 1990, the author and her husband were arrested by security forces. The author was raped in her home in front of her children. She was then taken to a small detention centre on the way to Kinshasa where she was brutally beaten. The following day she was taken to Makal prison in Kinshasa. The author describes the inhuman and degrading circumstances of detention in prison. She was not allowed to receive any visits and shared a cell of 3 by 6 metres with seven other inmates. There were no proper sanitary provisions and they had to urinate on the floor. Every morning guards came into the cell and forced the women to dance, beat them and sometimes raped them. The author states that she was raped more than 10 times during her time in prison. She further submits that she was regularly beaten, sometimes with whips made of -81-