CAT/C/56/D/565/2013 to make an emergency landing, but the Soviet authorities claimed that he had died following the disappearance of the aircraft. When he returned to the Soviet Union, he was stripped of his command and underwent numerous interrogations by the KGB, which tried to hold him partially responsible for the hijacking of his aeroplane. These events caused serious tensions in the complainant’s family. 2.2 In 2008, the father recounted these events to the complainant who, overwhelmed by the account, decided to make them public. She wrote a detailed article describing the events of December 1985. She contacted a Moscow newspaper which, in September 2009, invited her to go and meet with the editor. The newspaper accepted her article and took down all her personal details. After the meeting, the article was published. On 14 October 2009, the police turned up at the complainant’s house in Moscow and arrested her. She was interrogated, insulted, threatened, beaten and kicked until she signed a confession, and was eventually thrown unconscious into the street. She received treatment in one hospital, where the threats continued, and she was forced to move to another hospital. 1 In the meantime, her apartment had been set on fire leaving her with no choice but to go and stay with the other complainant — her partner at that time and now her husband — in Krasnoyarsk. 2.3 Following the events of 14 October 2009, S.A.P. filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office. The authorities informed her that an investigation had been conducted, but that no irregularities had been found. V.P. persuaded her to make the events public. She therefore tried again to get her article published, adding to it details of the incident which had taken place on 14 October 2009. On 30 December 2009, the article was published in the magazine Argumenty Nedeli in a humorous form, which trivialized the events. 2 2.4 On 3 January 2010, the police went to the complainants’ home and arrested them, together with the three guests visiting their home that evening. The five persons were accused of forming a political opposition group. S.A.P. was violently threatened, beaten, tortured and even raped by the police, who told her that her husband had been killed and that the same fate awaited her if she did not confess. On 7 January 2010, the police threw her out into the street. Following their arrest, both complainants were hospitalized. S.A.P. has a medical certificate from the hospital in Krasnoyarsk which confirms the rape and the related physical consequences. The complainants were also asked to sign a confession stating that they had defamed the Russian State and regretted their action. 2.5 When the complainants protested that their account of the events had been trivialized by the magazine, a more detailed version of the article was republished on 28 January 2010. After 1 February 2010, the complainants decided to go into hiding. They lived in hiding in Tula for over a year. On 21 April 2011, the computer of V.P. was hacked: when he opened an e-mail, a banner appeared showing an image of him being killed, and a woman with his wife’s face being raped. On 23 April 2011, the complainants had to leave their apartment because the daughter of S.A.P. had an asthma attack. She should have been hospitalized, but the complainants were too afraid to be seen in public. While they were on their way home, the police tried to stop them and fired shots at them. However, they managed to get away in their car. They stayed hidden in a monastery in St. Petersburg until their departure for Switzerland on 26 August 2011. Since their arrival in Switzerland, S.A.P. has been undergoing psychiatric treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and risk of suicide. She has two medical certificates from the psychiatric hospital and a medical certificate showing that her nose __________________ 1 2 GE.16-01900 S.A.P. was taken to hospital by passers-by who found her in the street. Since the persecution continued, her father took her to another hospital. The complaint does not provide any other details of the hospitals concerned. According to the Federal Administrative Court, a copy of the article was submitted to the authorities. 3/10