CAT/C/33/D/223/2002 Page 4 1994. He also stated that he had been involved with the Party since 1983, when he was still at school. His activities consisted of organizing and speaking at party meetings and distributing leaflets. Four or five years ago he had been accused of murder by members of the BNP and the Awami League and arrested by the police. He remained in custody for some 15 or 20 days before being released on bail and was acquitted at the trial. Other false allegations had been made against him. He had also been arrested by the police on several occasions, each of them for a short time. 4.3 A second interview was held by the Migration Board on 20 December 2000 in the presence of the complainant’s legal counsel. He stated that he was suffering from ill health and had to consult a physician. He was feeling constantly tense and nervous, had sleeping difficulties, poor appetite, loss of memory and nightmares. He also made a number of varying and contradictory statements concerning inter alia his alleged experience of different types of mistreatment by the members of the BNP on the one hand and the police on the other hand; the dates and length of the detention periods; the date when he started working for the Jatiya Party and his activities in the Party. 4.4 On 30 January 2001 the complainant’s counsel filed written observations with the Migration Board in which he submitted inter alia that the complainant had been held at the police station in Madariapur and tortured on three different occasions. Furthermore, on numerous occasions he had been kidnapped and subjected to beatings with sticks and fists by supporters of the BNP which had resulted in serious damage to his elbow. The complainant had further been physically abused also by supporters of the Awami League. Both the complainant and his Party had reported these incidents to the police which had taken no action. 4.5 On 21 February 2001, the Migration Board rejected the application for asylum and ordered the complainant expulsion to Bangladesh. Noting that the information provided by the complainant at the two hearings and the subsequent written observations differed inter se, and that he had changed his statements during the second interview, the Board held that the complainant had not been able to provide a credible account of his situation in Bangladesh or his political activity in the Jatiya Party. Referring to a number of inconsistencies and peculiarities in his statements, the Board concluded that the complainant had not made it probable that he was of interest to the BNP, other political parties or the authorities in Bangladesh. The Board further observed that the complainant’s alleged political activities, irrespective of his lack of credibility, were legal under Bangladeshi law and that the kidnappings and beatings to which he had been exposed by political opponents was not something which was sanctioned by the Bangladeshi authorities. While noting that persons held in detention in Bangladesh were often subjected to mistreatment by police personnel, the Board expressed its view that this was not an abuse that was sanctioned by the Bangladeshi authorities. 4.6 On 27 February 2001 the complainant lodged an appeal with the Aliens Appeals Board. He stated that a case in which he and three other persons were charged with murder of a BNP supporter was pending before the Faridpur Court and submitted some “court documents” regarding the case, together with a letter from the lawyer who was said to represent him in the case. The complainant subsequently declared having been informed by his lawyer that he had been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for attempted murder. He also submitted several medical