CAT/C/33/D/163/2000 Page 4 lodged a complaint with the police. The police, however, allegedly told him that Oscar Cancinos was a member of the Zapatista Army and that the complainants were his accomplices. 2.5 The complainants took refuge in Mexico City, where they were hidden by the husband’s family. They claim there are rumours that their uncle went back to join the Zapatistas in the mountains. 2.6 The complainants left Mexico on 12 December 1998 and arrived in Canada the same day. They applied for refugee status on 28 May 1999. On 6 January 2000, the Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board found that the complainants were not “refugees within the meaning of the Convention”. After the hearing, the complainant Ms. Osorio Cancino was found to lack credibility, while her husband did not make a statement because of memory problems ostensibly arising from the incidents described above. The complainants then decided to request leave to apply for a judicial review of the decision of the Refugee Determination Division. On 26 May 2000, the Federal Court of Canada denied the request. On 9 December 2000, the complainant Mr. Saut Villamar returned to Canada without a residence permit. He did not apply for refugee status and accordingly was sent back to Mexico the following day. The complaint 3.1 The complainants maintain that their removal to Mexico would constitute a violation by Canada of article 3 of the Convention. They claim that their rights were seriously violated in Mexico and believe that they would be persecuted again if they returned there. 3.2 In support of these allegations, Mr. Saut Villamar submits a medical certificate stating that he would not be competent to testify on his own behalf to the Refugee Determination Division. According to the certificate, this complainant has no memory of the assault he suffered in Mexico or of his life prior to the assault. He is incapable of recognizing familiar faces, and a psychologist has recommended that his wife should represent him in his application. The State party’s submission on admissibility 4.1 In a note verbale dated 30 July 2003, the State party maintains that, in respect of the complainant Ms. Osorio Cancino, the communication is inconsistent with article 22, paragraph 5, of the Convention, since she had legal temporary worker status in Canada. 4.2 The State party contends that the communication does not present the minimum grounds requested in support of the complainants’ allegation that their return to Mexico would constitute a violation of article 3 of the Convention. The facts and allegations presented to the Committee are said to be identical as those submitted to the national authorities. These authorities concluded that these facts and allegations were incoherent and revealed the existence of significant gaps in relation to essential and determinant aspects of the complainants’ contentions, in particular with regard to their stay in Chiapas and the identity of Mr. Villamar’s aggressors. Invoking a loss of memory, he refused to testify before the Immigration and Refugee Board. 4.3 The State party further asserts that the communication is inadmissible since the complainants did not exhaust the available domestic remedies before applying to the Committee.