CCPR/C/113/D/2272/2013 consequence of their ethnicity.8 The State party concludes that returning the author to Sri Lanka would not constitute a violation of the article 7 of the Covenant. Author’s comments on the State party’s observations 5.1 On 20 March 2014, the author submitted his comments on the State party’s observations. He stresses that it was indeed EPDP members who questioned him about his cousin’s murder at the grocery shop and that it was again EPDP members who were looking for him at his aunt’s house after he visited her in 2012. He thinks that his cousin was murdered because of his support for LTTE and their joint activities to help some LTTE members. He reiterates that as a former LTTE supporter who witnessed his cousin’s murder by EPDP paramilitaries, he is at risk of being persecuted if he returns to Sri Lanka, both by the Sri Lankan authorities and EPDP. 5.2 The author refers to the UNHCR guidelines, according to which former LTTE supporters who may never have undergone military training but were involved in sheltering or transporting LTTE personnel, or the supply and transport of goods for LTTE, are recognized as individuals at risk of persecution in Sri Lanka.9 5.3 The author further considers that, since the European Court’s decision N.A. v. the United Kingdom of 2008, the situation of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka has further deteriorated and, as of today, even a small link to LTTE puts Tamil returnees at risk of being subjected to torture or ill-treatment by the Sri Lankan security forces. He stresses that Swiss authorities have decided to stop all deportations to Sri Lanka because of the numerous reports of arrest and torture of Sri Lankans who returned to their country after a few years abroad, including when they did so on a voluntary basis.10 He also mentions some other cases where Sri Lankan returnees of Tamil origins have been arrested and subsequently tortured by the Sri Lankan security forces.11 He states that the Swiss Refugee Council highlighted that the Sri Lankan authorities are extremely paranoid and try to contain by any means any possible resurgence of LTTE, directing their suspicions to all Tamils, even those without a high profile or direct links with LTTE. Therefore, any person returning from abroad is likely to be suspected by the authorities of maintaining links with the LTTE diaspora and suffer persecution.12 5.4 The author reiterates that his deportation to Sri Lanka by Denmark would constitute a violation of the article 7 of the Covenant. 8 9 10 11 12 6 The State party refers in this respect to the UNHCR Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum Seekers from Sri Lanka, dated 21 December 2012. Ibid. The Federal Department of Migration suspended all deportations to Sri Lanka on 26 August 2013. On 26 May 2014, it announced that this measure was lifted and that all asylum requests presented by Sri Lanka nationals would be reviewed on the basis of updated criteria enabling the determination of their current level of risk and in line with the UNHCR guidelines. He refers to the cases of two rejected Tamil asylum seekers from the Netherlands expelled to Sri Lanka in August 2012 and one from Cyprus (no date). Two of the three persons were subsequently granted asylum when they managed to flee again from Sri Lanka. The Swiss Refugee Council, Sri Lanka: current situation update, 15 November 2012, 4.4 Profile of risk groups.