CAT/C/56/D/591/2014 The facts as presented by the complainant 2.1 The complainant worked as a goldsmith in Sri Lanka from 2000 until 2010. In May 2010, he hosted some cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in his home in Negombo, Sri Lanka. The cadres had escaped from internment camps. The complainant helped them to obtain passports to leave the country and, at the same time, obtained a passport for himself, as he knew he might have to flee the country at short notice if his association with the LTTE was discovered. 2.2 On an unspecified date, the complainant had a dispute with a foreign national regarding some missing gold. He believes that that person may have told the Criminal Investigation Department that he was an LTTE supporter. 2.3 On 17 September 2010, the Criminal Investigation Department searched the complainant’s house and found a laptop and three cameras belonging to the LTTE. Because of the LTTE material found in his house and because he had hosted LTTE cadres in his home, the complainant was arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department office at Thelwatte Junction, Negombo, where he was tortured. After one week, the complainant was released after his father had paid a bribe to the Department officers. 2.4 The complainant remained in hiding at two different addresses in Colombo before he decided to leave as it was no longer safe for him to be in Sri Lanka. He managed to leave the country by bribing relevant officers. The complainant first traveled to Kenya on a threemonth visa, where he stayed from 23 September 2010 to 16 December 2010. When the visa expired, he went to Côte d’Ivoire on a six-month visa and stayed there from 16 December 2010 to 28 May 2011. Upon expiration of that visa, he tried to go to Dubai, but was refused entry, and therefore had no option but to return to Sri Lanka on 30 May 2011. His uncle bribed the relevant airport officials to secure his release and traveled with him to Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. The complainant’s uncle was assaulted on 9 June 2011 for having provided the complainant with assistance and for not revealing his whereabouts. 2.5 The complainant states that, on 12 May 2011, his father was shot dead by the military. He alleges that his father was shot because he had been instrumental in securing the complainant’s release from the Criminal Investigation Department and had refused to give details when questioned about the complainant’s whereabouts. 2.6 On an unspecified date in 2011, the complainant went into hiding at St. John’s Church in Batticaloa until 30 January 2012. He then left for Australia by boat on 2 February 2012. He arrived in Australia illegally on 17 February 2012. The entry interview was held at Scherger Detention Centre on 23 March 2012. On 22 May 2012, the complainant applied to the Minister of Immigration for a protection visa; however, his application was denied on 17 August 2012. He then filed an application for review before the Refugee Review Tribunal, which was denied on 14 May 2013, as the Tribunal considered that the complainant’s story lacked credibility. The complainant notes that one of the reasons why the Tribunal assumed that his story was not credible was because he referred to the church in which he had sought refuge as St. John’s Church and later at St. Anthony’s Church. The Tribunal noted that, “if the applicant had been staying with a father in a church as he claims for over six months, the applicant would know the father’s name and be sure about the church where he stayed”. In that connection, the complainant submits that, in English, the church is referred to as St. John de Britto’s Church, but in Tamil it is called “Punitha Arulananthar Alayam” translated as St. Arunlananthar Church. The complainant stated that he had stayed at the Arulananthar Church, which, he assumes, the translator had translated as St. Anthony’s Church during the proceedings. 2.7 On an unspecified date, the complainant appealed the Refugee Review Tribunal’s decision before the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. On 3 September 2013, the Circuit Court upheld the Tribunal’s decision and dismissed the complainant’s appeal. The 3