CAT/C/48/D/343/2008
country, he said that some of them spoke French. Eventually, he said that most of them
spoke French. Regarding the fact that he had kept 20 or 40 dollars on his person, he first
said that he had kept the money in his socks. When confronted with his previous statement
that he had been barefoot, he said that he had hidden the money in his trousers, where it had
not been found. For the State party, these statements are not credible in view of his
allegations that he was repeatedly abused. As to the manner in which he regained his
freedom, he claimed in his written statements that a guard who knew his grandfather had
set him free during the night. However, in a letter that, according to him, was written by his
lawyer, it is stated that the release was the result of the intervention of a public prosecutor
and a senior military judge. Lastly, in his PRRA application, he claimed to have been
detained in the Democratic Republic of the Congo until his departure for Canada in January
2003. However, during his interview, he claimed to have stayed in Zambia for several
months before travelling to Canada.
6.5
In his asylum application of February 2003, the applicant does not mention having
been tortured in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the State party, it is
improbable that the complainant would have omitted to refer to the torture in his asylum
application if he really had been tortured. Psychological stress cannot explain such
behaviour.
6.6
Further information provided by the complainant to the Canadian authorities has
proved to be contradictory. For example, as regards his family name and his date of birth,
he gave a false name in his asylum application of 2003; he stated different dates of first
arrival in Canada; he tried to enter the United States using false documents and denied that
he had previously requested asylum in Canada; and he told the PRRA officer in December
2007 that his father had not returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a long
time, although the latter had just come back from a 20-month stay in the country.
6.7
The State party reiterates its comments concerning the medical certificate submitted
by the complainant. This certificate, which is based on the complainant’s account, states
that he seems to be suffering from aspects of post-traumatic stress disorder. The State party
also argues that the PRRA officer was right not to attach weight to the affidavits submitted
in support of the complainant, since they either came from persons who were biased or
contained inaccuracies.
6.8
The complainant has never participated in activities that could give rise to a risk of
being subjected to torture. He is not a member of any political organization and has not
shown that his criminal record in the United States or his deportation itself could constitute
a risk. His parents have reportedly spent time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in
recent years (in particular his father between March 2006 and November 2007) without
being detained or tortured. The complainant submitted a letter from a UDPS member
stating that threats were made against the complainant’s father by the police while he was
in the process of trying to recover his house. However, there is no mention of any incident
involving detention or physical danger.
6.9
The American judge who determined that there was a risk of torture in 2005 had
attached considerable importance to the situation of the complainant’s father. However, his
father stayed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after this date without being
detained. In addition, the judge does not seem to have been aware of the fact that the
complainant had submitted false information to the Canadian authorities in connection with
his asylum application in 2003.
6.10 Lastly, the State party submits that there are very few references to the torture of
UDPS members or Luba from Kasaï in reports on the human rights situation in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, such as the 2007 Amnesty International report or the
United States Department of State report for 2008.
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