CAT/C/47/D/374/2009
suffering harm, she had made repeated visits to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric
Clinic. H.M. maintained that the medical reports corroborated her allegation of the serious
abuse she had suffered upon return to her home country.
4.7
The complainants adduced a written communication by a representative of UNHCR,
stating that Armenians and those with mixed ethnicity who return after having sought
asylum abroad run a high risk in Azerbaijan. The communication further stated that it was
doubtful whether Azerbaijan would take them back, and if they would be accepted, there
was a great risk that they would come under pressure from the security services or be
treated without sympathy by the majority of the rest of the population. It also recalled that
the majority of the Armenians in Azerbaijan hide their identity. Moreover, the complainants
also adduced a written communication from a representative of Amnesty International,
Sweden, stating, inter alia, that the complainants should be regarded as people in a mixed
marriage. In addition, H.M. submitted a document produced by an organization working to
strengthen the rights of Azerbaijani women.
4.8
The Migration Board opposed the grant of the appeal, stating that the complainants
have not shown convincingly that they are to be regarded as refugees or in need of
protection, nor can they be granted a residence permit on any other grounds. Their
respective accounts cannot form the basis of assessment of the risk of persecution or other
inhuman or degrading treatment, since there were several inconsistencies that undermined
the general credibility of their claims. Regarding the alleged health problems, the Board
held that there was nothing to indicate that they would be unable to receive adequate
medical care in Azerbaijan.
4.9
On 7 September 2007, the Migration Court rejected the complainants’ appeals,
stating that the medical reports and other written evidence submitted did not substantiate
the complainants’ claim of ill-treatment on the occasions they alleged. The documents
produced by them contained contradictory information. Furthermore, the documents issued
by UNHCR and Amnesty International did not prove that State-sanctioned persecution of
people of Armenian origin occurs in Azerbaijan. Therefore, the Court concluded that the
complainants had not substantiated that they ran a risk of torture upon return.
4.10 The complainants appealed against the judgment and held that the Migration Court
had made an erroneous assessment of the evidence adduced. On 21 December 2007, the
Migration Court of Appeal decided not to grant leave to appeal. The complainants then
filed applications to the Migration Board alleging that new circumstances had emerged
granting them the right to a residence permit or, alternatively, a re-examination of their
case. These applications were rejected for the reason that the circumstances invoked only
constituted amendments or modifications to previous submissions in the complainants’
asylum applications. The Migration Court upheld the Migration Board’s decision.
4.11 With regard to the admissibility of the complaint, the State party submits that it is
not aware of the present matter having been or currently being examined under another
procedure of international investigation or settlement and also acknowledges that all
available domestic remedies have been exhausted. However, the State party maintains that
the complainants' claim that they are at risk of treatment contrary to the Convention fails to
attain the basic level of substantiation required for purposes of admissibility, and therefore
is inadmissible under article 22, paragraph 2, of the Convention.2
4.12 Should the Committee consider the complaint admissible, the issue before it is
whether the forced return of the complainants to Azerbaijan would violate the obligation of
Sweden under article 3 of the Convention not to expel or return a person to another State
where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being
subjected to torture. The State party recalls that, when determining whether the forced
2
See communication No. 216/2002, H.I.A. v. Sweden, decision adopted on 2 May 2003, para. 6.2.
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