CAT/C/56/D/586/2014 Facts as presented by the complainants 2.1 The first complainant, R.G., was born in Kazakhstan on 12 August 1969, his wife and three elder children were born in Chechnya; the youngest child was born in April 2012 in Sweden. The first complainant was an active resistance fighter in the 1994-1996 conflict in Chechnya. In 1999, when the conflict restarted, he continued to support the Chechen resistance by delivering food and supplies to the partisans. 2.2 In 2007, the first complainant was suspected of having killed a group of policemen. He was arrested, held incommunicado for 10 days, beaten severely, hung upside down and tortured with electricity. His teeth were broken and he also suffered a number of fractures of his ribs. Upon paying a bribe to the authorities, he was released, after which he was hospitalized for two months to recover from his injuries. After having recovered, he kept on delivering assistance to Chechen partisans while trying to keep a low profile. 2.3 In September 2011, the first complainant’s nephew was arrested on suspicion of being involved, in August 2011, in explosions in Grozny. The complainant was alerted by an acquaintance in the police that an arrest warrant had also been issued against him. He was worried he might be arrested, as he believed his nephew would be tortured and would not be able to resist the interrogations. Consequently he fled to Ingushetia. The next day, he called his wife, who informed him that security forces had visited the house and burned his car, and that they had found weapons outside the house. The complainant claims that those weapons must have been planted by the authorities in order to frame him. 2.4 Thereafter, the first complainant’s wife sold the house and paid the authorities a bribe in order to close the investigation file against him. Instead, she found herself accused of being an accomplice. The security forces frequently inquired about the whereabouts of the complainant. The complainant’s wife and children were able to join him in Ingushetia only in late February 2012, at which time they decided to leave the Russian Federation. On 11 March 2012, they arrived in Sweden. 2.5 The complainants applied for asylum on 12 March 2012. On 15 July 2013, the Migration Board denied their application, citing a lack of consistency in the complainants’ testimony and a lack of credibility. The Board was not convinced that their latest domicile was in Chechnya. Moreover, the Board decided that the situation in Chechnya had changed since 2007 and that the authorities of the Russian Federation were interested in those still actively resisting the regime, and not in former militants. The Board, however, accepted that the complainant had been active during the 1994-1996 and 1999 conflicts and that he had been tortured in 2007 by the police and released upon paying a bribe. The Board finally concluded that there was neither an ongoing armed conflict nor any other serious conflict in Chechnya. 2.6 The complainants appealed to the Migration Court, which rejected the appeal on 19 November 2013. The Court concluded that the fact the complainant was tortured in 2007 in itself was not a sufficient ground for protection. It further reiterated the Board’s conclusion that the nature of the conflict in Chechnya had changed since 2007 and that the complainants’ testimonies were not trustworthy. 2.7 On 19 December 2013, the Migration Court of Appeals denied the complainants’ request for leave to appeal. The Migration Court’s decision thereby became final. The complainants maintain that they have exhausted all domestic remedies. The complaint 3.1 The complainants submit that there are substantial grounds for believing that the first complainant would be tortured if returned to the Russian Federation. The first complainant claims that, in 2003, his brother was beaten to death while in police custody 3

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