CAT/C/31/D/0215/2002
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a judgement against him ordering his expulsion from Swedish territory, for having committed a
drug-trafficking offence. It adds that the complainant moreover did not give his true identity,
which was revealed later in the judicial investigations; and that the result of all of this was that
the migration authorities attached no credibility to the complainant’s assertions that he risked
being tortured if he were deported to Colombia.
4.6
In the State party’s view, it is not logical for someone applying for protection to put his
relations with the new country at risk by committing an offence; moreover, the offence was
committed within three months of his arrival in Sweden. The State party adds that the
complainant was found guilty by the judicial authorities, that according to the police
investigations he purchased the cocaine in Colombia before leaving the country, and that his
brother-in-law carried the drug to Sweden. In the view of the State party, the foregoing does not
reflect the behaviour of a genuine asylum-seeker.
4.7
The State party contends that the complainant has provided no evidence of his alleged
political activities in Colombia. According to the information furnished to it, the complainant
was prosecuted for theft in Colombia, while at no time did he give details to the Swedish
migration authorities concerning the alleged acts of torture to which he was subjected, nor the
times and places of his arrests. The State party asserts that the medical reports were the only
evidence he submitted, but that they only mentioned the possibility that the complainant had
been the victim of torture.
4.8
In another written submission dated 8 July 2003, the State party informs the Committee
that it had received reports from the Colombian authorities informing it that on his return the
complainant was briefly detained for the offence of “escaping from prison,” and that he was also
cited as a suspect in the commission of several other offences of a non-political nature.
Comments by the complainant concerning the State party’s arguments
5.1
In a written submission of 17 April 2003, the complainant’s counsel commented on the
State party’s observations. He asserts that he was unable to obtain pertinent evidence of the
complainant’s political activities or of the acts of torture to which he was subjected in
Colombia.6
5.2
The complainant asserts that his wife, Mrs. Karin Berg, visited him after he had been
deported and imprisoned in Colombia. He also submits a copy of a written statement to a
Colombian judicial authority by Hector Mosquera, who declared in 1994 that he had been
subjected to torture. His counsel asserts that this is the same person as the complainant.7
5.3
The complainant says that he was deprived of his freedom on arrival at Bogota Airport,
and that on 30 July 1999, while he was in Sweden, he was sentenced by the Third Criminal
Circuit Court of Cartago to eight months’ imprisonment for the offence of “escaping from
prison,” this being evidence that he was persecuted. He adds that he had travelled under another
identity because he was afraid of being arrested by the Colombian authorities, and that he did not
commit the offence for which he was tried and sentenced in Sweden.