CAT/C/51/D/387/2009
merely indicate that the complainant might be at a generalized risk of harm if he was
returned to Sri Lanka, because of the current political and social climate, but does not
indicate any personal and present danger of encountering harm by Sri Lankan authorities.
6.4
The complainant asserts that he would not be able to relocate within Sri Lanka and
substantiates this claim with a conclusion drawn in a United Kingdom Home Office
operational guidance note to the effect that applicants perceived to be active or influential
in opposition to the Sri Lankan Government may be at risk of persecution by the State.
However, this conclusion largely concerns journalists, lawyers, human rights activists and
supporters of the current political opposition — a coalition led by General Sarath Foneska
—, which has a different composition to the UNP that the complainant supported when he
was in Sri Lanka. Finally, there is little evidence to suggest that the complainant would be
at risk of torture by the Sri Lankan authorities if he were to return to Matale District (where
the complainant lived and which is in the south-central part of the country). The main areas
of unrest in Sri Lanka are in the north and east, where the civil conflict with the LTTE took
place.
6.5
With regard to the psychological reports submitted to the Committee, they only
establish that the complainant experienced some kind of trauma in the past (which the State
party submits was not the result of torture by the Sri Lankan Government). No new
evidence has been provided to suggest that he is presently at risk of torture by the
Sri Lankan Government if he were to return to Sri Lanka. The psychological report dated
1 April 2011 notes that the complainant’s current mental health issues are predominantly
linked to his current predicament (i.e., his community detention) and the uncertainty
surrounding his appeal for a protection visa. While the report notes that he experiences
recollections of his alleged incarceration by the LTTE, there is no new evidence linking the
complainant’s mental health to torture carried out by Sri Lankan government authorities.
While the State party acknowledges that the complainant has a history of mental illness in
connection with his ongoing detention, his difficulties in articulating his experiences in Sri
Lanka and the subsequent psychological evidence provided do not have a material impact
on the merits of his claims that he is at a real and personal risk of torture if he is returned to
Sri Lanka.
6.6
While the medical reports establish that the complainant has scars on his body, they
do not provide conclusive proof that they were caused by groups opposed to the UNP, that
these groups were affiliated with or agents of the Sri Lankan Government or that the
complainant is in personal and present danger of experiencing torture if returned to Sri
Lanka.
6.7
Notwithstanding its position in relation to the admissibility of the complainant’s
claim of torture by the LTTE, the State party considers that the complainant’s comments do
not provide any new evidence to suggest a continuing real, personal and present risk of
torture by the LTTE since he arrived in Australia, and accordingly, his allegations are
unmeritorious.
Complainant’s further information
7.1
On 21 March 2012, the complainant submitted additional documents to the
Committee, including newspaper articles stating that Mr. L.A., the government official who
had allegedly threatened the complainant at gunpoint, had surrendered to the police in
August 2010, after allegedly abducting and assaulting three people. Another article dated
28 March 2011 states that after that incident, Mr. L.A. was re-elected to his position as
Chairman of Yatawatta Pradeshiya Sbha in Matale District. The last article dated
1 February 2011 indicates that Mr. L.A. stood as a United People’s Freedom Alliance
(UPFA) candidate in the March 2011 local government elections. The complainant
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