CAT/C/37/D/227/2003 Page 6 The Complaint 3.1 The complainant claims that there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be subjected to torture if he were forced to return to Bangladesh, in violation of article 3 by Sweden of the Convention. The complainant refers to the medical reports (paragraph 2.10 above) concluding that he had previously been subjected to torture and submits that his description of the torture to which he has been subjected coincides with what is generally known through the human rights reports about torture in Bangladesh. Those reports also support the conclusion that police torture of political opponents is often instigated by the executive; that the judiciary system does not provide sufficient protection to the victims, and that the lower courts are not politically independent of the executive, and that the decisions of the higher courts are often ignored or circumvented by the executive. The complainant also claims that the elections in 2001, where the Awami League was replaced by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (the BNP), did not constitute such a fundamental change in the political circumstances in Bangladesh that the grounds for persecution no longer exist; and that people who had been falsely accused or charged on account of their political activities were acquitted of these accusations or charges. In view of the prevailing situation in the country and of the fact that neither the Migration Board nor the Aliens Appeals Board had questioned the fact the complainant was subjected to torture in Bangladesh, he maintains that he would still run a foreseeable, substantial and personal risk of being subjected to arrest and torture if he were forced to return to Bangladesh. 3.2 He also claims that the execution of deportation order would in itself constitute a violation of article 16 of the Convention, in view of his fragile psychiatric condition and severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, resulting from the torture, to which he had been subjected. The State party’s observations on admissibility and merits 4.1 By letter of 24 April 2003, the State party acknowledges that all domestic remedies were exhausted but disputes that the complaint disclosed the minimum level of substantiation required for the purposes of admissibility.2 4.2 The State party also contends that the claim of a violation of article 16 in relation to the execution of the deportation order, in view of the complainant’s fragile psychiatric condition and severe PTSD, is incompatible with the provisions of the Convention. The State party invokes to the Committee's general comment on article 3, which spells out that a State party's obligation to refrain from returning a person to another State is only applicable if the person is in danger of being subjected to torture, as defined in article 1.3 There is no reference to "other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" in article 3, as there is in article 16. The purpose of article 16 is rather to protect those deprived of their liberty or who are otherwise under the factual power or control of the person responsible for the treatment or punishment. 2 Reference is made to Y v. Switzerland, Communication No. 18/1994, Views adopted on 17 November 1994, para 4.2. 3 The Committee’s General Comment on the implementation of article 3, dated 21 November 1997. Reference is made to Peter Burns, “The United Nations Committee against Torture and its role in refugee protection” (Institute of Public Law, University of Bern, 2001).