CAT/C/33/D/133/1999
page 4
Division) rejected the application for judicial review of the decision by the Refugee Protection
Division, as the complainant had been unable to demonstrate any error that would justify
intervention by the Court.
The complaint
3.1
The complainant asserts that his rights were grossly violated in Mexico, and
considers that should he return to Mexico he would again be tortured, or even executed, by
the Mexican army.
3.2
In support of his allegations of the risk of a violation of article 3 of the Convention, the
complainant submits a medical certificate that concludes that “the marks on the patient’s body
are compatible with the torture that he states he suffered”, and a psychological report stating that
he “was bruised, weakened by the torture he had undergone and events associated with trauma”
and that “without effective support, which implies the acquisition of refugee status”, it was to be
feared that he “will act on his suicidal impulses”.
3.3
Regarding the current situation in Mexico, the complainant stresses that there is total
impunity for soldiers and police officers who commit offences against the population. In support
of this assertion, he makes reference in particular to a report produced by the International
Federation of Human Rights (IFHR) in 1997, which indicates that “illegal arrests, kidnappings,
disappearances, extrajudicial killings, cases of torture, judicial proceedings conducted without
any guarantee of individual rights, are the result, on the one hand, of the attribution to the army
of ever-greater responsibility in areas relating to public security, and of the emergence, which is
tolerated and even encouraged, of paramilitary groups, and, on the other hand, of the failure of
the judicial machinery to guarantee and protect the rights of victims and of those subject to
prosecution”, adding that there is a “blatant process of militarization leading to very serious
human rights violations”.
3.4
In his letter dated 5 May 1999, the complainant submits that the Federal Court did not
apply the criteria appropriate to a fair hearing. He claims he was not heard by an impartial,
independent tribunal and was not given a fair hearing. He claims that he was the victim of
improper handling which could not but result in a denial of refugee status.
State party’s observations on admissibility and merits
4.1
On 15 January 2003, more than three years after the Committee informed it of
the complaint, the State party submitted its observations on the admissibility and merits of
the complaint.
4.2
According to the State party, the complainant has not exhausted domestic remedies. He
made no request for leave or judicial review to the Federal Court of Canada regarding the refusal
to grant a ministerial stay of removal on humanitarian grounds. Had he believed that the
decision embodied an error of law or a significant factual error, he could have requested review
by the Federal Court of the decision, which he failed to do. The complainant has not established
that judicial review of an application for a ministerial stay of removal can be considered one
of the exceptions provided for by the Convention (unreasonable delay and absence of effective
relief).