Having concluded its consideration of communication No. 107/1998, submitted to the Committee against Torture under article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the author of the communication and the State party, Adopts the following decision: 1.1 The author of the communication is Mr. K.M., a Turkish citizen of Kurdish ethnic origin, born in 1972, currently living in Switzerland where he has applied for asylum. His application, however, has been rejected and he is at risk of expulsion. He alleges that his forced return to Turkey would constitute a violation by Switzerland of article 3 of the Convention. He is represented by counsel. 1.2 In accordance with article 22, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the Committee transmitted the communication to the State party on 11 March 1998. At the same time the State party was requested, pursuant to rule 108, paragraph 9, of the Committee's rules of procedure, not to expel the author to Turkey while his communication was under consideration by the Committee. In a submission of 15 April 1998 the State party informed the Committee that measures had been taken to ensure that the author would not be returned to Turkey while his case was pending before the Committee. The facts as submitted by the author 2.1 The author comes from the south-eastern part of Turkey. He states that, although sympathetic towards the cause of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) he was not involved in political activities. He performed his military service with the Turkish army in 1992-1993. He ran a shoe shop together with his father in the village of Gaziantep. Although not politically active, he was arrested by the police on two occasions in August and September 1994, on suspicion of helping the PKK, and was kept in detention for a brief period. During one of his detentions he was severely beaten, resulting in the loss of one of his teeth and damage to others. On both occasions he was released without charge. 2.2 In early 1995 a member of the PKK whom they did not know contacted the author and his father and asked them to supply the organization with a large quantity of shoes. Being sympathetic towards the organization, the author and his father accepted the deal and shoes were supplied on a weekly basis. According to the author, his cousin, who was working actively for the PKK and came sometimes to collect the weekly ration of shoes, was arrested by the Turkish police in March 1995 while in possession of the shoes. Under torture he informed the police that the author was making shoes for the PKK. The police then looked for the author at his domicile, but the author managed to escape and hide. His father was arrested in order to make the author show up. The author decided to leave the country and arranged his departure with the help of smugglers. He later learned that his cousin had been killed while trying to escape from prison. 2.3 The author arrived in Switzerland on 20 April 1995 and immediately applied for asylum. The Federal Office for Refugees (ODR) rejected his application on 14 November 1996. On 12 January 1998 the Appeal Commission for Asylum Matters (CRA) turned down the author's appeal. 2.4 The author complains that his interviews with the Swiss asylum authorities were conducted without the assistance of a lawyer and disagrees with the arguments used by those authorities to conclude that he lacked credibility and reject his application. The Swiss authorities indicated that there were a number of contradictions 110