CAT/C/53/D/519/2012 Chin minority, did not speak Burmese and beat him repeatedly, ignoring his explanations. The complainant, together with 48 other arrestees, was kept in police custody for half a day and was beaten and kicked; he still has some of the scars on his face. He was subsequently transferred to the Insein prison in Yangon, where no visits were allowed. 2.2 The prison conditions were deplorable. Eight persons were sharing a cell of about 10 m2 and received only one plate of food for all eight persons per day. The complainant’s parents came to visit him two or three times, but were not allowed to see him. Two months later, some of the inmates attacked a security guard bringing the meal. After taking possession of the prison keys, 50 inmates, including the complainant, escaped and went to Kili, Yangon, in stolen trucks. The complainant then went by fishing boat to Kawthoung, at the southernmost point of Myanmar. The following day, he took another boat to Ranong, where he illegally entered Thailand on 25 December 1988. He joined the Karen army and received military training for a month. He found the training physically too hard, so decided to leave and went to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he worked in a Chinese restaurant owned by an acquaintance until October 1992. 2.3 In October 1992, he returned to Kawthoung, Myanmar, to visit his family. He helped his cousin with his business for six months. Thereafter he left for Thailand again in April 1993. 2.4 The complainant paid US$3,500 to a broker for a Myanmar passport on 1 April 1994. The passport was issued in the name “P. M. T.” (not his real name, “T. M.”), born in 1976. The complainant obtained visas from the Korean Embassy in Myanmar on 3 September 1994, and from the Thai Embassy in Myanmar on 16 September 1994. The official purpose for travel was his participation in a Hapkido tournament. He entered Korea and has been living illegally there since 26 October 1994. 2.5 The complainant applied for asylum only on 13 January 2004, on the advice of a friend. On 17 June 2009, the Ministry of Justice rejected his application, finding that he had failed to substantiate a well-founded fear of persecution. His appeal against the Ministry’s negative decision was denied on 30 September 2009. On 4 November 2009, the complainant filed an application with the Seoul Administrative Court, which, on 1 April 2010, decided not to recognize him as a refugee. The Court held inter alia that, although Myanmar still holds many political opponents in detention, it is unlikely that the Government still punishes or persecutes those who participated in movements that overthrew the previous regime in 1988. Many people participated in the 8888 resistance, but the complainant did not personally participate, and was only arrested because he had been photographed when he had been following the rally on his way home after school. Furthermore, the court indicated that he had never taken part in political activities against the military government of Myanmar while abroad, and found it unlikely that he would be politically persecuted upon return to his country. As to the complainant’s risk of being persecuted because of his escape from prison, the Court noted that the complainant was at that time a middle-school student and did not initiate the escape himself. The Court also noted his claim that the police searched for him at his parents’ home on several occasions in 1992, but considered it unlikely that the authorities were still closely monitoring him more than 20 years later. The complainant’s appeal against that decision was rejected by the Seoul High Court on 17 December 2010. The Supreme Court upheld the previous decisions on 1 February 2011. The complaint 3. The complainant claims that in Myanmar he would risk being subjected to torture, and that his return would constitute a breach by the Republic of Korea of his rights under article 3 of the Convention. In support of his allegations, the complainant submits: (a) that the human rights situation in Myanmar is appalling and that a consistent pattern of gross, 3