CAT/C/47/D/374/2009
being mistreated, about his whereabouts in Sweden and the purpose of his stay, as well as
about his parents and was told that the police were “waiting for them.”
2.10 On an unspecified date, the complainants’ counsel filed an application for reexamination of their case to the Migration Board, alleging that new circumstances had
emerged that constituted obstacles to the enforcement of the deportation order, namely the
large publicity received by their case in Sweden and the Azerbaijani authorities’ interest in
the family, as had been shown by the visit of their son to Azerbaijan. A.M.'s social ties to
Sweden after seven years, and new psychiatric reports confirming that the complainants’
mental health had not improved, were invoked as additional obstacles to the enforcement of
the deportation order. On 3 July 2008, the Migration Board rejected their request for reexamination on the grounds that the circumstances invoked only constituted amendments or
modifications to their previous submissions in their asylum applications. On 27 August
2008, the Migration Court upheld this decision.
The complaint
3.1
The complainants claim that their forcible deportation to Azerbaijan would amount
to a violation by Sweden of article 3 of the Convention. In particular, they underline the
torture and ill-treatment they suffered upon their return to Azerbaijan, following their first
deportation in 2004, as well as the ethnically motivated persecution they suffered before
leaving the country in 2002.
3.2
They further claim that the Swedish authorities only focused on minor
inconsistencies instead of duly considering their claim of persecution due to their mixed
origin. Even if they have overestimated the time they spent in custody at the airport, forgot
the dates of summons to KBG or were unable to explain how smugglers could provide them
with passports, these factors are not sufficient to deny their traumatizing experience or the
injuries they sustained. Their account of the facts is corroborated by medical reports and
there is a well-founded fear of repeated torture and humiliating treatment upon a second
return.
State party’s observations on admissibility and merits
4.1
On 11 December 2009, the State party provided its observations on the admissibility
and the merits of the complaint. It submits that S.M., H.M. and their daughter, A.M., first
arrived in Sweden on 29 March 2002 and applied for asylum on 2 April 2002. They stated
that they originated from Nagorno-Karabakh province of Azerbaijan, which they had left in
1998 and had since lived as internally displaced persons following the persecution they
endured because S.M. has the appearance and the accent of an Armenian. On this account,
he has been subjected to beatings, degrading treatment and had to quit his job because of
his mixed ethnic origin. H.M. was raped several times and beaten on one occasion, also due
to the family’s mixed origin. On one occasion, she was detained for three days after a
dispute in a convenience store. The complainants invoked that there were humanitarian
reasons for granting their daughter a residence permit. They also stated that they had not
been politically active.
4.2
The first asylum application was rejected by the Migration Board on the grounds
that State-sanctioned discrimination or persecution of Armenians does not occur in
Azerbaijan and the general situation of citizens belonging to this ethnic group cannot, as
such, constitute grounds for asylum. It found that it had not been substantiated that the
complainants would be subjected to persecution if they returned to their home country. The
health problems invoked by the complainants were not so severe as to warrant suspension
of the expulsion order against them. The complainants appealed to the Aliens Appeals
Board, which upheld the Migration Board’s decision in March 2004. The refusal-of-entry
order was enforced on 19 August 2004. The complainants subsequently submitted a new
5