CAT/C/53/D/482/2011 Complainants’ comments on the State party’s submission 5.1 On 10 July 2012, the complainants commented on the State party’s submission. According to them, the State party’s refusal to classify the risk of death as ill-treatment is immoral and denies their humanity. In their view, fearing for their safety, physical integrity and lives is a source of mental suffering and anguish of a severity that is tantamount to torture as understood in the light of the interpretation of the European Court of Human Rights in its judgement on Soering v. the United Kingdom.9 5.2 H.S., the fifth complainant, submitted a signed statement certifying that his Kosovo passport expired in 2006 and has not been renewed since. He had lost it before filing his asylum application and for that reason was unable to present it to the Swiss authorities. H.S. explains that he forgot his passport in the vehicle used by the people-smuggler who took him into Switzerland, and it could therefore have been used by someone else. He further asserts that he has never returned to Kosovo since submitting his asylum application. His “disappearance”, as noted by the authorities of the State party, is a misunderstanding because the complainant reported that he was staying with an acquaintance in another area, but his statement would appear not to have been recorded by the authorities. 5.3 On 24 July 2013, the complainants added that, by decision of the Federal Administrative Court of 18 July 2013,10 H.S., who was suspected of obstruction of justice, had been released after 7 months of pretrial detention because the acts of which he was accused were not of a serious nature. In 2012 he had met three times with his brother-in-law, who was wanted by the authorities on charges of murder and had gone into hiding. 5.4 On 31 October 2013, the complainants submitted a letter from B.S. dated 29 October 2013 bearing the heading “request for review of [her] administrative status”.11 The letter states that her husband, V.S., has been incarcerated in Switzerland since November 2011, after being sentenced to 3 years and 6 months’ imprisonment for burglary. An appeal has been lodged against the conviction and the decision is pending. Should the Swiss authorities decide to deport her husband to Kosovo, B.S. requests that she not be returned with him, so as to protect her daughter, who was born in November 2011 in Switzerland, from the threats to which the family is exposed in Kosovo. B.S. states that she is prepared to divorce her husband should this be necessary in order for her to protect her daughter. 5.5 On 7 July 2014, the complainants informed the Committee that V.S. had been deported to Kosovo in March 2014. He is currently in pretrial detention, having been charged with the 2003 murder of a distant cousin who was living in the village where he was born.12 V.S. believes that the father of this distant cousin is responsible for the murder of his own father in 2008, which was thus a revenge killing. Between 2003 and 2007, the year in which V.S. left the country, neither he nor his family were aware that he was suspected of the murder of his cousin. Furthermore, his wife, B.S., has initiated divorce proceedings from Switzerland, fearing that criminal proceedings against her husband could have implications for her safety if she were to return to Kosovo and could place her daughter in danger. The other complainants are still in Switzerland. 5.6 On 18 January 2010, E.S. gave birth to a child. The child’s father is suspected of murder in Kosovo and cannot leave Kosovo while his trial is under way. This man and his 9 10 11 12 8 Soering v. the United Kingdom, 7 July 1989, Series A No. 161. The complainants attach a copy of the Federal Administrative Court decision. The letter appears to be addressed to the Swiss authorities, but the complaint is not clear as to the intended recipient of this letter. It is addressed to “to whom it may concern”. Counsel submits a statement from V.S.’s lawyer, dated 14 June 2014, which states that he is being held in pretrial detention on suspicion of the murder of an inhabitant of Grabanice on 19 May 2003 and that he fears for his life even in prison. According to V.S., the father of the deceased is a person who has considerable influence with certain Kosovo institutions. GE.15-00578