CAT/C/48/D/413/2010
the credibility of the other statements presented by her. Therefore, the complainant’s
statements could not be considered sufficiently substantiated for granting her protection.
2.11 On 19 May 2009, the Migration Court rejected the complainant’s appeal. The
Migration Court stated that the author had neither proven her identity nor established as
probable that she was from Burundi. Even assuming that she was from Burundi, the Court
stated that the general situation in that country did not constitute grounds for asylum or
protection. It considered her explanation as to how an application for a visa in her name had
been presented in Algeria acceptable. Nevertheless, the Migration Court found that the
complainant had not substantiated her claim that she risked being subjected to persecution,
ill-treatment or punishment if she returned to Burundi. In its examination, the Migration
Court noted particularly that she had not been involved in the Tutsi militia in which her
brother had been engaged and that she had not been party to her brother’s activities. The
Migration Court further noted that the event which the complainant claimed was the direct
cause for her to flee Burundi occurred nearly three years ago, a period that was considered
to be relatively long.
2.12 On 8 June 2009, the complainant appealed the Migration Court’s judgement and, on
27 July 2009, the Migration Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal against the Migration
Court’s judgement. The decision to expel the complainant thus gained legal force.
2.13 On 7 September 2009, a letter from the complainant was registered with the
Migration Board. In the letter, she claimed that in June 2009 she had forwarded documents
to her legal aid counsel, stating, inter alia, that she had been sentenced in Burundi to 20
years’ imprisonment. The complainant attached copies of the summons from the police in
Burundi dated 8 October 2007,2 an arrest warrant in her name dated 19 November 20073
and a judgement of 20 years’ imprisonment dated 16 December 2008.4
2.14 In the light of the information presented in the complainant’s letter and the attached
copies, the Migration Board decided, on 24 September 2009, not to grant her a residence
permit under chapter 12, section 18 of the 2005 Swedish Aliens Act, or to re-examine the
matter under chapter 12, section 19.5 The Migration Board noted, inter alia, that the
attached documents were copies and that consequently their value as evidence was low.
2.15 The Migration Board’s decision was appealed by the complainant to the Migration
Court. After the Migration Court had asked her questions in relation to the documents
presented, the complainant stated in writing that in March or April 2009 she had learned
from an acquaintance working in Burundi as a secretary in a court that she had been
notified, searched for and sentenced for having helped her brother to kill people and
plunder their belongings. The complainant was shocked to hear this but assumed that if she
told her legal aid counsel or the Swedish authorities about it, they would ask her to prove it.
Therefore, she asked the acquaintance in Burundi to send her the documents from the court
file in Burundi. In the beginning of June 2009, the documents arrived and the complainant
immediately handed over copies of them to her legal aid counsel, who, however, did not
submit them to the Migration Board or the courts.
2
3
4
5
The request addressed to the complainant to appear for questioning about her involvement in theft is
signed by the criminal police in Bujumbura, Burundi.
An inquiry in relation to the suspicion about the complainant’s involvement in murder and theft, as
well as her failure to appear for questioning, is signed by a criminal police officer in Bujumbura,
Burundi.
The complainant was found guilty of aiding murder and theft.
Rules regarding lasting impediments to enforcement of refusal-of-entry and expulsion orders that
have become final and non-appealable are laid down in chapter 12, sections 18 and 19, read together
with chapter 12, sections 1-3, of the Act.
5