CAT/C/59/D/634/2014
submitted the first complainant’s medical records to the Board, from which it appears that
the first complainant suffers from serious mental problems and that he has been receiving
psychotherapy for a long time.
6.2
On 2 October 2015, the Refugee Appeals Board refused to reopen the asylum
proceedings. In justification for its repeated decision not to initiate the first complainant’s
examination for signs of torture, the Board referred to its reasoning in the decision rendered
on 12 September 2014 (see paras. 4.11 and 4.12). The Board emphasized that no substantial
new information that could lead to a different assessment of the credibility of the
complainants’ information on their grounds for seeking asylum had been given either in the
complainants’ request for reopening or in their complaint to the Committee.
6.3
As to the complainants’ comments of 11 October 2015, the State party submits that
it refers generally to its observations of 14 April 2015. Regarding the letters from
neighbours referred to by the complainants (see para. 5.4), the State party submits that the
Board received copies of the letters only on 16 October 2014, and maintains that the letters
cannot be accorded any evidential value as they appear to be pleadings in support of the
complainants’ case.
6.4
As regards the report made on the examination of the first complainant for signs of
torture by the Amnesty International Danish Medical Group, the State party submits that
the report cannot lead to a different assessment of the credibility of the complainants’
statements. The State party determines that although the findings of the examination for
signs of torture, establishing that the first complainant suffers from bone thickening of both
tibiae resulting from traumas to the periosteum, are consistent with the first complainant’s
description of torture, that does not mean that he was subjected to the physical and/or
mental abuse that he has relied upon in his asylum claim.
6.5
Based on the overall assessment of the information on file, including the medical
records submitted by the complainants and the report made by Amnesty International, the
State party maintains that the complainants have not rendered probable the grounds for
asylum relied upon by them, including that the first complainant was detained by the
authorities for 14 days in November 2013 and was subjected to torture during his detention.
The State party adds that the most recent information provided by the complainants,
including the report from Amnesty International, cannot explain the “inconsistent and
elaborative elements” of the complainants’ statements.
6.6 The State party observes that it is aware of the Committee’s recent decision in F.K. v.
Denmark.18 It submits that the reasoning given in that complaint is very specific and does
not imply, in its opinion, a general obligation to perform an examination for signs of torture
in cases where an asylum seeker’s statement on his grounds for asylum cannot be
considered as fact because the statement is deemed to lack credibility.
6.7
The State party further observes that despite whether it may be considered a fact that
a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights exists in Ingushetia,
it finds that the complainants would not be at a specific and individual risk of abuse falling
within article 3 of the Convention on their return. 19 With reference to rule 113 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, the State party maintains that the complainants have failed
to establish a prima facie case for the purpose of admissibility of their complaint under
article 3 of the Convention. Therefore, the complaint is inadmissible as manifestly
unfounded. Should the Committee find the complaint admissible, the State party further
maintains that it has not been established that there are substantial grounds for believing
18
19
Communication No. 580/2014, decision adopted on 23 November 2015, para. 7.6.
Reference is made to communications No. 555/2013, Z. v. Denmark, decision adopted on 10 August
2015, para. 7.2; and No. 571/2013, M.S. v. Denmark, decision adopted on 10 August 2015, para. 7.3.
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