CAT/C/55/D/530/2012 The facts as presented by the complainants 2.1 The complainants were politically active in Belarus. They used to produce and distribute flyers, as well as to disseminate information and personal views regarding the political situation in Belarus, including on the Internet. On 17 March 2004, the first complainant sought asylum in Sweden, giving a false identity. His application was rejected and he was returned to Belarus.1 2.2 In 2006, the complainants participated in a demonstration to protest against the regime in place. They were arrested and the second complainant was tortured by the police. The police used a clothes iron to force her confess to the effect that she had been paid by the presidential candidate Mr. Kozulin to participate in a demonstration. As a consequence of the treatment she suffered, she was transferred to hospital. The first complainant was accused of disturbing the public order and was fined. Over the period from 2006 to 2009, the first complainant received threatening calls from the police in Minsk. However, the second complainant participated in a number of demonstrations even afterwards, without being arrested by the police. In the period from November 2009 to February 2010, the complainants undertook organizational activities to arrange a demonstration in November 2010, shortly before the presidential elections of 19 December 2010. 2.3 In March 2010, the complainants left Belarus with their daughter. They entered Sweden on tourist visas valid for a year. They sought asylum in 2011, almost a year later. In November 2010, while the first complainant’s parents were visiting the family in Sweden, he handed them a written request for the organization of a demonstration in Belarus in December 2010. Upon their return to Belarus, his mother and stepfather, members of the United Civil Party, submitted his request to the Belarusian authorities. They then participated in the demonstration of 19 December 2010 and were arrested by the Belarusian authorities. During their interrogation, the investigator, aware of the first complainant’s past activities, pressured the complainant’s mother and stepfather to disclose the complainants’ whereabouts and they gave the investigator the first complainant’s phone number in Sweden. The investigator stated that a criminal case was open against the complainants for organizing public disorder and they would be arrested upon return to Belarus. From that moment, the complainants started receiving threatening phone calls from the Minsk police.2 2.4 The complainants submitted their asylum request to the Swedish Migration Board on 16 June 2011. During the interview, the second complainant stated that she had been subjected to torture in 2006 and showed the marks on her body. It was recorded that the second complainant had been subjected to police abuse. She also referred to a medical statement from a therapist in Sweden which declared inter alia that her injuries could have been inflicted in the way that she had described. On 9 September 2011, the Migration Board rejected the asylum application and ordered the complainants’ deportation. It stated that the false information about his identity submitted by the first complainant while applying for asylum back in 2004 had affected his credibility and that of the second complainant. Furthermore, the first complainant’s information regarding his political 1 2 In a subsequent submission dated 8 February 2013, the complainants clarify that, previously, the first complainant had business activities as an entrepreneur in Belarus, but his firm has been shut down by the Belarusian authorities and he has been prosecuted for unpaid taxes. However, he had no tax debts at the time he left Belarus. The complainants claim this indicates that the first complainant runs a certain risk of being prosecuted formally because of his previous economic activities, but in effect because of his political engagement. In their additional submission dated 8 February 2013, the complainants argue that the reason for prosecution was not given by the police during the phone calls but such invitations for a visit and conversation in a police station are routine in Belarus and often end with being taken into custody. 3