CAT/C/46/D/350/2008
6 December 2006 the Federal Office for Migration overturned the decision of 24 March
2005 on the grounds that the complainant was invoking the existence of subjective reasons
that had arisen since his flight, and that they should be considered in a second asylum
application procedure.
2.5
In a decision dated 12 July 2007, the Federal Office for Migration dismissed the
second asylum application pursuant to article 32, paragraph 2 (e) of the Asylum Act of 26
June 1998. The complainant’s appeal against this decision was rejected by the Federal
Administrative Court (formerly the Swiss Asylum Appeals Commission) on 1 February
2008 on the grounds that the new evidence submitted by the complainant provided
insufficient reason to challenge the former judicial authorities’ findings. On 8 April 2008
the complainant lodged a request for review with the Federal Office for Migration which,
for jurisdictional reasons, was referred to the Federal Administrative Court, which in turn
rejected the request on 20 June 2008. The complainant had had until 19 February 2008 to
leave Switzerland. He filed a request for review accompanied by an application for interim
measures, but the Federal Administrative Court rejected the request for review, and thus the
application for interim measures also, on 20 June 2008. Thus, as of this date, the
complainant could be deported at any time.
The complaint
3.1
The complainant claims that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture in
violation of article 3 of the Convention if deported to his country of origin. As an active
member of GJCC, he gave three talks about the elections in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, during which he alerted young Christians to the fact that Joseph Kabila was not of
Congolese origin. After these pronouncements, he was tortured and imprisoned for two
weeks before managing to escape from prison and to flee the country. The complainant
affirms that the events leading up to his flight and his appearance on the Swiss television
channel TSR, without his face obscured, in a programme about asylum applications which
aired on 26 September 2006 have placed him at risk of being subjected to torture if
deported to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The complainant adds that his wife was
raped and has for this reason become a refugee in a third country.
3.2
The complainant cites Amnesty International’s annual report for 2008, which
recounts the political and military tensions that degenerated into violent clashes in Kinshasa
and the province of Bas-Congo. Killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, acts of torture and
other cruel, inhuman and degrading forms of treatment were practised throughout the
country by the security forces and armed groups, most often targeting persons perceived as
being political opponents. Accordingly, the complainant affirms that the situation in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo meets the specifics of the situation envisaged in article
3, paragraph 2, of the Convention, in that a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass
violation of human rights exists in the country. The complainant emphasizes that detainees,
especially those perceived as being political opponents, are systematically tortured while in
custody.
3.3
To substantiate his allegations, the complainant provides copies of the following
documentation: a wanted notice issued by the Congolese national police; an article from the
newspaper Le Satellite mentioning that a wanted notice was issued on 17 July 2004 in an
attempt to find the complainant; two summonses issued to the complainant’s wife and to
the president of GJCC, respectively, by the same commander, Clément Konde; a wanted
notice issued by the National Intelligence Agency on 10 November 2004; and a page from
the newspaper Le Palmarès, dated 6 September 2006, which reports the disappearance of
the president of GJCC in Kinshasa, specifying that he had gone missing after the
disappearance of the complainant. A letter attesting to the complainant’s appearance in a
TSR programme subsequently broadcast on TV5 is also attached. The complainant also
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