CAT/C//37/D/265/2005** Page 4 and sitting on iron bars for a long time. It concluded that the complainant’s scars and injuries corresponded to acts of torture suffered in 2001. 2.9 In a further submission to the Board, on 17 December 2004, the complainant stated that his brother had arrived in Sweden and applied for asylum and that Jalaloglu had been arrested in Azerbaijan and the complainant, among others, was being searched by the Azerbaijani authorities. A wanted notice, including a photo of the complainant, had been issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Department of Criminal Investigations of Baku, and posted at police stations around Baku. He was allegedly accused of “belonging to the ADP and of having left the country and instigating rebellion for having disseminated oppositional ideas”. He contended that his brother had informed him that their father had also been arrested in Baku two months after the complainant’s departure from Azerbaijan. 2.10 On 4 February 2005, the Aliens Appeals Board rejected the complainant’s appeal. While it accepted that the complainant had been imprisoned and subjected to torture as indicated in the medical reports, it considered that “these incidents could not be attributed to Azeri authorities but should be viewed as criminal acts performed by certain individuals overstepping their powers.” It further questioned the duration of the complainant’s detention and the circumstances of his escape and found that he had not been able to demonstrate neither that he was wanted on political grounds nor that he had been politically active at such high level that he would risk being persecuted by Azeri authorities. The complaint 3. The complainant maintains that if he were to be returned to Azerbaijan, he would risk detention and torture again, on grounds of his tight connection with the ADP and especially considering that a wanted notice has been issued and distributed in police stations around Baku. He submits that the current political situation in Azerbaijan is particularly tense due to the parliamentary elections of 6 November 2005. In this regard, over 300 opposition activists, inter alia from the ADP, were arrested on 21 May 2005 in an attempt to crush political opposition. In light of the facts and the evidence submitted, the complainant claims that his deportation to Azerbaijan would constitute a violation of article 3 of the Convention. State party’s submissions on admissibility and merits of the complaint 4.1 By letter of 10 May 2005, the State party contests the admissibility of the communication, arguing that it does not meet the basic level of substantiation required for the purposes of admissibility. On a subsidiary basis, it claims that the case is without merit. It argues that, although numerous human rights abuses are still being reported, Azerbaijan has made some progress towards improving the human rights situation since it became a member of the Council of Europe and has signed major international and European human rights treaties. In particular, the State party notes that some political prisoners have been released, including Hummatov, the leader of the former Talysh separatist group. Therefore, the human rights situation in Azerbaijan in itself does not suffice to conclude that the complainant’s forced return would violate article 3. 4.2 The State party further contends that the national authorities are best positioned to assess the author’s credibility. The Migration Board held two interviews with the complainant and concluded that, while his statements relating to his personal circumstances and his membership in the Khatai branch of the ADP were confirmed as correct by the