- 148 2.3 In March 1997, the complainant was dismissed from the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic with no explanation, but still continued with the investigation. From then on, she started receiving threats by telephone and anonymous threats pushed under her door. Her daughter was the victim of a kidnapping attempt and her husband was brutally pistol whipped on the head and back. She was also warned that she had to stop investigating and filing complaints. 2.4 In August 1997 and as a result of what had happened, the complainant and her family moved from Caracas to Maracaibo. In December 1997, the complainant’s car was stolen and later burned. She was also harassed by telephone and told that, if she filed any more complaints, she was the one who would be accused of being responsible for the forgeries. As a result, she and her family fled to the city of Maracay in January 1998. That was when they decided to sell everything they owned and leave the country for Sweden. 2.5 The complainant and her family applied for political asylum in Sweden on 19 March 1998. The Swedish National Migration Board rejected the application on 24 August 1998, claiming that the facts did not in any way constitute grounds for asylum in Sweden and that, in addition, the complainant could prove her innocence through legal channels. An appeal against that decision was submitted to the Aliens’ Commission, which upheld the initial decision on 3 March 2000. An application for inhibition was later filed with the Aliens’ Commission, but it was denied on 14 March 2000. The complaint: 3. The complainant claims that there are substantial grounds for believing that, if she is returned to Venezuela, the persecution against her will continue and she will be prosecuted for denouncing corrupt politicians in a legal system where there is no guarantee of being able to prove that she is innocent of the forgeries. She also claims that the security forces continue to torture and ill-treat detainees both mentally and psychologically and that she is in danger of being arrested, all in violation of article 3 of the Convention. The State party’s observations: 4.1 In its observations of 28 August 2000, the State party replies to the complainant’s claims in respect of admissibility and the merits. After giving a brief description of Swedish legislation relating to aliens, the State party describes how the complainant, who was born in 1958, and her husband and children entered Sweden with valid passports on 26 February 1998. They applied for asylum on 19 March 1998, claiming that they had been subjected to harassment as a result of a bribery scandal and that they were afraid to return to Venezuela. The application was turned down on 24 August 1998. The Aliens’ Commission rejected the appeal on 3 March 2000. 4.2 With regard to admissibility, the State party maintains that the application should be declared inadmissible ratione materiae, for lack of proof that the complaint is compatible with the Convention, in accordance with article 22, paragraph 2, of the Convention. In this connection, the State party argues that the complainant claims that, if she is returned to Venezuela, she will be arrested, tried and sentenced to prison, without proper guarantees of a fair trial. However, according to the State party, although the complainant has referred to article 3 of the Convention, she has not specifically stated that she will be subjected to torture if she returns