imprisonment. According to the sentence, the author was also to be expelled from Sweden after having served his sentence. The author was released from prison on 16 January 1999 and is at present awaiting expulsion to Viet Nam. 2.2 The author states that his family, in particular his father, had been collaborating with the previous regime in Viet Nam. When the Communist regime came to power in 1975 the family's property was confiscated and they were forcibly relocated to a forest region where the living conditions were difficult. The author states that, at the beginning of 1976, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, according to the author for not having complied with a decision that he, his parents and his siblings were to stay in the area to which they had been deported. The family instead moved back to a city in the area from which they had been deported. When the police tried to make the family return to the forest, the author's uncle was shot dead and his father was treated harshly. The author claims that he resisted the police by seizing one of the policemen's weapon, which resulted in two police officers being shot dead and four injured. The author was then arrested. 2.3 The author was allegedly first detained in a remand prison for political prisoners. After approximately two weeks the author was moved to 24 Nguyen Cong Chu Nha Trang prison where he was held in detention for eight months before any judicial proceedings took place. The author claims that, while in detention, he was severely tortured on a daily basis during the first two months. The torture allegedly included beatings with weapons and batons to his head, back and chest while his hands were tied behind his back. The author also alleges that the police threatened to execute him. For the next six months, the author was kept in solitary confinement and was allegedly forced to lie locked up in his own urine and faeces. The author's submission includes a medical certificate dated 24 March 1999 from the Unit for War and Torture Injuries in Gothenburg, which indicates that the author's account appears to be credible and that the author suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome. 2.4 The author submits that he was then sentenced to death, but owing to his young age the sentence was commuted to 12 years in prison. After nine years' imprisonment in Dong Rang prison, which included forced labour, he eventually managed to escape and, after two years of hiding on an uninhabited island fled from Viet Nam in 1986. Together with others, he stole a boat. While they were still in Vietnamese territorial waters, the Vietnamese military attempted to prevent them from proceeding. Shots were fired on both sides and many of the fugitives were wounded. The author states that he believes that some of the soldiers were also wounded and probably killed. 2.5 The author, together with his family, eventually reached the Philippines where they stayed in a refugee camp. With the assistance of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the author and his family were accepted as so-called quota refugees by Sweden and received permanent residence permit in 1992. 2.6 In 1995, the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden sentenced the author to five years' imprisonment, to be followed by permanent expulsion from Sweden. The author was released from prison on 26 January 1999. On the same date, the Swedish Minister of Justice, at the request of UNHCR, decided to stay the execution of the expulsion order to allow UNHCR to pronounce on the compatibility of an expulsion with article 33.2 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. The case of Mr. H.N. 3.1 The author of the second communication (No. 131/1999), Mr. H.N., states that he came to Sweden in 1991, recognized as a quota refugee. In 1995 the author was sentenced under Swedish law to five years' 134