CAT/C/50/D/392/2009 2.2 In March 2005, he was chosen to represent his party in the Coalition des Forces Démocratiques (Coalition of Democratic Forces). This coalition was composed of the Alliance pour la Démocratie et le Développement Intégral (Alliance for Democracy and Integral Development) (ADDI), Comité d’Action pour le Renouveau (Action Committee for Renewal) (CAR), Convention Démocratique des Peuples Africains (Democratic Convention of African Peoples) (CDPA), Pacte Socialiste pour le Renouveau (Socialist Pact for Renewal) (PSR), Union des Démocrates Socialistes du Togo (Union of Socialist Democrats of Togo) (UDS-Togo) and the Union des Forces de Changement (UFC). He was involved in the preparation of electoral lists for the 24 April 2005 presidential elections and in the distribution of voting cards at polling station No. 2050 in the Ablogamé No. 2 primary school in Lomé. The complainant told members of the Coalition about irregularities that he had observed while carrying out his duties, including the refusal to register people considered to be opposition supporters and the padding of electoral lists in order to favour the current regime. 2.3 On 2 April 2005, the complainant received a visit from two senior members of the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (Togolese People’s Assembly) (RPT), the party in power in Togo, who offered him 1 million CFA francs if he would leave the UFC party to become a member of the RPT party and use his influence within the Coalition to encourage young people to vote for the RPT candidate. The complainant states that he turned down this offer. 2.4 On 16 April 2005, the official starting date of the Coalition’s election campaign, the complainant was coming back from a meeting chaired by the UFC leader when he was attacked by unidentified persons. He claims that his life was saved by some local youths who heard his cries for help and came to his aid. On 24 April 2005, election day, he worked as a delegated monitor of the Commission Électorale Locale Indépendante (Local Independent Electoral Commission) (CELI) at polling station No. 2018 to ensure that the voting went smoothly. He then received a visit from Ms. S.T., one of the persons who had offered him money on 2 April 2005. Ms. S.T. repeated her offer, but this time she doubled the sum. He again turned it down and informed the other Coalition monitors in attendance at the polling station. Word of what had happened quickly made the rounds at the school where the polling station was located, and the crowd outside booed Ms. S.T. and threw stones at her car. She left the scene with the help of security forces. A few minutes later, Red Beret troops arrived in two army vehicles and began firing tear gas and clubbing people in the crowd. They entered the polling station and tried to remove the ballot boxes, but the crowd stopped them. They then started shooting indiscriminately. The complainant managed to escape by climbing over the school fence. 2.5 On 26 April 2005, when the election results were announced and the RPT candidate was proclaimed to be the victor, the complainant invited young people from his local area and elsewhere to demonstrate peacefully in protest against these results, which he considered to be fraudulent. The military responded violently on behalf of the Government. Homes were ransacked and killings, rapes and other acts of violence were committed. 2.6 The complainant was picked up on 27 April 2005 when he was on his way back to the Catholic mission where he had taken refuge the previous day. At first, he was taken into an area of the bush behind the Headquarters of the Armed Forces where other opposition supporters were being held. On arrival, he was beaten with clubs and rifle butts. The following day, he was doused with water and covered in sand before again being beaten by soldiers. Four days later, he was taken, blindfolded, to a secret detention centre in the north of the country, where he was beaten daily and forced to perform hard labour. Some of his fellow inmates died there. The complainant managed to escape on 3 May 2006 with the help of a soldier who was a former classmate and who recognized him and helped him to get to Benin. However, he was not safe in that country either, because Togolese forces were GE.13-45411 3