Additional observations by the State party 8.1 In its supplementary submissions dated 5 and 19 October 1999, the State party draws the attention of the Committee to a letter from the Ministry of Public Security of Viet Nam to the Swedish Embassy in Hanoi, stating that neither of the authors have any criminal record in Viet Nam. 8.2 It is further submitted that the second of the Vietnamese nationals expelled to his country of origin after servicing a prison sentence in Sweden for a crime committed together with the authors has addressed a petition to the Government of Sweden to be reunited with his family in Sweden. The State party informs the Committee that before his expulsion, this Vietnamese national claimed that he was suspected of stealing a police boat and murdering two policemen in connection with his escape from Viet Nam. He also maintained that he had previously been imprisoned three times in Viet Nam and that he had been tortured. The State party draws the attention of the Committee to the fact that in his new petition, made more than a year after his return to Viet Nam, there is no indication that he has been of interest to the Vietnamese authorities since his return. Counsel's comments 9.1 Counsel dismisses the State party's argument that the authors' communications should be considered inadmissible in accordance with article 22, paragraph 5 (a) of the Convention. It is submitted that there is no UNHCR procedure of international investigation or settlement provided for by the 1951 Refugee Convention. In addition, the issue considered by the UNHCR Regional Representative for the Baltic and Nordic Countries was the compatibility of the expulsion decision with article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention and not the question which is pending before the Committee, i.e. whether the authors' face a risk of torture upon return to Viet Nam. 9.2 Counsel informs the Committee that although the Ministry of Public Security of Viet Nam accepted the repatriation of the authors in December 1998, Viet Nam had a few months earlier refused such repatriation. According to a Swedish newspaper, the reason for the refusal was said to that the authors were accused of committing serious crimes in Viet Nam prior to their escape. 9.3 With reference to the interviews conducted with the authors by the Swedish Immigration Board in May and June 1999, counsel draws the attention of the Committee to the fact that these took place after the submission of the authors' communications to the Committee, and only after the submission of a request by counsel to the Ministry of Justice, stating that "the written opinion of the Swedish Immigration Board which was the basis of the Court of Appeal's decision to expel [the authors], contains only general statements". 9.4 Counsel recalls that when the authors were initially interviewed by the police, in 1992 and 1991 respectively, they were already accepted as quota refugees and did not applied for asylum under the same circumstances as normal asylum-seekers arriving in Sweden. During the interviews no questions were asked about previous torture and ill-treatment in Viet Nam, nor were the authors asked about the risks they would face should they be returned. 9.5 In the case of the first author, Mr. V.X.N., counsel submits that the subject of past or future risk of torture was never brought up during the criminal proceedings, either by the courts, or by the author's defence counsel and the author therefore did not know that the issue would be of any significance. In Mr. H.N.'s case, counsel submits that the author's defence brought the issue to the attention of the District Court. However, in the District Court's decision not to expel the authors, reference was only made to the fact that, even though conditions in Viet Nam had recently improved considerably, it could not be maintained that the defendants were 142