CAT/C/44/D/302/2006
risk of torture must be assessed on grounds that go beyond mere theory or
suspicion 2. However, the risk does not have to meet the test of being highly
probable, but it must be personal and present. In this regard, in previous
decisions, the Committee has determined that the risk of torture must be
foreseeable, real and personal 3 ..
13.4 With regard to the burden of proof, the Committee also recalls its
General Comment No.1 on article 3, and its jurisprudence to the effect that it
is normally for the complainant to present an arguable case and that the risk
of torture must be assessed on grounds that go beyond mere theory or
suspicion. 4
13.5 The Committee recalls that the State party questions the
complainant’s credibility and the authenticity of the documents he has
produced. It also reiterates its doctrine according to which it has the
competence to fully examine the facts and evidence before it in adopting its
decisions, even if, by making so, a considerable weight has to be attributed to
the consideration made on them by the State party’s authorities. While the
complainant has provided the State party and the Committee with copies of
various documents as evidence, the Committee considers that the
complainant has failed to rebut, with convincing arguments, the State party’s
conclusions on his credibility and has not been able to validate the
authenticity of the documents in question. Nor has the complainant explained
how he came to have various internal administrative documents in his
possession. The Committee notes that the two medical certificates produced
by the complainant refer to a number of scars on various parts of the body
and fractures to the tibia and fibula, but do not contain any evidence
confirming or refuting that they are the result of torture inflicted in the past.
In the Committee’s view, the credibility of the complainant’s claims has
been irreparably damaged by the information provided by the State party
regarding the material verification of the documents he produced on 3
October 2008, namely the death certificate and burial permit in respect of
Mr. Gata, his supposed cousin, and the press clipping purporting to show that
Mr. Gata was murdered because he had been mistaken for the complainant.
13.6 The Committee reiterates that, for the purposes of article 3 of the
Convention, the individual concerned must face a foreseeable, real and
personal risk of being tortured. In this case, the Committee believes that the
complainant has not produced sufficient satisfactory evidence or details to
corroborate his story that the risk to him of being tortured is real and
personal if he were to be returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Committee considers therefore that the complainant has not
substantiated his claim that he would personally face a foreseeable, real and
personal risk of being subjected to torture upon his return to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
2
3
4
10
A/53/44, annex IX, CAT General Comment No 1, paragraph 6.
See, inter alia, Communication No. 258/2004, Moistafa Dadar v. Canada, Decision
adopted on 23 November 2005, and Communication No. 226/2003, T.A. v. Sweden,
Decision adopted on 6 May 2005.
Communication No. 256/2004, Mehdi Zare v. Sweden, Views adopted on 12 May
2006, para. 9.3; communication No. 214/2002, M.A.K. v. Germany, Views adopted on
12 May 2004, para. 13.5.