CAT/C/41/D/306/2006
Page 5
suspicion although it does not have to meet the test of being highly probable4. It draws the
Committee's attention to the fact that several provisions of both the 1989 Aliens Act and the new
Aliens Act, which came into force in March 2006, reflect the same principle as that laid down in
article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention. It points out that the Swedish authorities therefore apply
the same kinds of test as the Committee when examining complaints under the Convention.
4.3 The State party submits that great weight must be attached to the decisions of the Swedish
migration authorities, as they are well placed to assess the information submitted in support of an
asylum application and to assess the credibility of an applicant's claims. The State party therefore
relies on the decisions of the Migration Board and the Aliens Appeals Board. In January 2007, it
requested the assistance of the Swedish Embassy in Ankara regarding some of the issues raised in
this case. The Embassy engaged the services of a human rights lawyer in Baku, who has many
contacts among human rights organisations and opposition political parties in Azerbaijan. The
results of this investigation were set out in a report dated 19 March 2007: according to Akif
Shahbazov, the former chairman of the ADP, E. J. was never a member of the ADP; the claim that
E. J. was expelled from university due to his membership of a political party is incorrect, as
according to the director of the university he was expelled for having failed to pay his fees; and E. J.
is not wanted by the Azerbaijani authorities; and finally there are no past or current proceedings
registered against him.
4.4 As to the documents provided by the complainants, the report of 19 March 2007 states that:
Akif Shahbazov denies having signed the document allegedly issued by the ADP, denies that E. J. is
a member of the ADP, and states that the ADP has no record of this document; what are referred to
as “arrest letters” dated 21 June 2003 and 16 October 2003, are translated as “judgements” by the
lawyer in question, are not recorded in the court’s register and the judges who are alleged to have
signed them deny having done so; and finally the document issued by the police of Baku on 22 May
2004 is considered to be a forgery, as it contains several formal and stylistic errors, there is no
record of such a summons at the police authority register, the name of the person on the summons
never worked as an investigator in the department in question, and, in any event, such a summons
could only have been issued by investigators of the Military Prosecutor’s Office and not by the
police of Baku.
4.5 On the basis of this report, the State party concludes that the documents invoked in support of
E.J’s membership, activities and positions in the ADP, his alleged arrests in 2003, and his claim to
be wanted by the police for his involvement in the demonstration allegedly held in May 2004, are
not authentic. This report also supports the conclusion that: there is no judgement against E. J.; he is
not wanted by the authorities in Azerbaijan; he has never been active in the ADP; and his account
of his alleged political activities, the two episodes of arrest/imprisonment and the claim that he is
wanted by the police, are all fictitious. There is nothing to support the submission that E. J. would
4
General Comment No. 1 concerning implementation of article 3 of the Convention, A/53/44,
Annex XI, adopted on 21 November 1997; Communication No.150/1999, S.L. v. Sweden, Views
adopted on 11 May 2001, para.6.4 and Communication No. 265/2005, A.H. v. Sweden, Views
adopted on 16 November 2006, para. 11.6