CAT/C/56/D/565/2013
had been broken as a result of the ill-treatment she suffered before leaving the Russian
Federation.
2.6 On 30 August 2011, the complainants filed an application for asylum in
Switzerland. On 30 March 2013, the application was rejected at first instance by the
Federal Office for Migration, which considered that the complainants ’ account was not
credible. The complainants lodged an appeal against the decision before the Federal
Administrative Court. This appeal too was dismissed by the Court, on 14 October 2013.
Both the Federal Office for Migration and the Federal Administrative Court held that
their “story was invented and greatly exaggerated, difficult to understand and made no
sense”. Thereafter the Federal Office for Migration set 13 November 2013 as the date by
which the complainants must leave the country. Since that date, the complainants have
no longer been permitted to remain in Switzerland and may be deported to the Russian
Federation at any time.
2.7
The complainants claim to have exhausted all available domestic remedies.
The complaint
3.1 The complainants allege that they have been persecuted and subjected to illtreatment by the Russian authorities as a result of the publication, in September and
December 2009 and in January 2010, of an article in which they criticize the attitude of
Soviet authorities during the aeroplane hijacking that took place in 1985. The aut hors
fear that they would be subjected to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment if they
were returned to their country of origin.
3.2 The complainants claim a violation of article 3 of the Convention owing to the risk
of persecution by the authorities of the Russian Federation and that, in consequence, they
would have to fear seriously for their lives and physical integrity if deported. In the
complaint, they claim that the political legacy of the Soviet era lives on in the Russian
Federation today and that the KGB is continuing its activities.
State party’s observations on the merits
4.1 On 12 May 2014, the State party submitted its observations, in which it noted that
the authors were doing no more than reiterating to the Committee the reasons add uced in
support of their asylum application and referring to the evidence produced in support
thereof, without providing any new evidence likely to call into question the decisions of
the Federal Office for Migration and the Federal Administrative Court. T he State party
recalls that the authors applied for asylum in Switzerland on 30 August 2011. Their first
hearing took place on 6 September 2011. S.A.P. was heard again by the Federal Office
for Migration on 13 November and 10 December 2012; V.P. on 9 January 2013. In its
decision of 28 March 2013, the Federal Office for Migration dismissed the asylum
applications on the grounds that the authors’ allegations lacked credibility. In its
judgement of 14 October 2013, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed t he appeal
filed by the authors against that decision.
4.2 The State party recalls that, under article 3 of the Convention, States parties are
prohibited from expelling, returning or extraditing a person to another State where there
are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being
subjected to torture. Referring to the criteria established by the Committee in its general
comment No. 1 (1997) on the implementation of article 3 of the Convention, which
require the complainant to prove that he or she runs a personal, present and substantial
risk of torture if deported to his or her country of origin, the State party recalls that the
risk of torture must be assessed on grounds that go beyond mere theory or suspicion and,
furthermore, that facts must be adduced which indicate that the risk is serious. According
to the State party, the authors have not demonstrated, either before the national courts or
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GE.16-01900