CAT/C/53/D/514/2012 previous day for lack of evidence in the proceedings against him and several others for an attempted coup d’état. 2.16 The day after his release, the complainant and his family started receiving death threats and were placed under close surveillance. Their car was followed regularly by persons identified as agents of the Intelligence Service. They also received anonymous telephone threats. After all the political figures charged in the case had been acquitted, the President stated publicly that all the officers who had tortured the prisoners would have to answer for their actions in court. According to the complainant, this made his torturers fearful, which explained the threats. He also says that they have never been brought to justice to answer for their actions. 2.17 In the face of dire threats, the complainant fled to Kenya on 1 February 2007. His family left Burundi a few days later. The family applied to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for refugee status and this was granted in 2007. Procedures for resettlement in a host country were set in motion by UNHCR and in November 2008 the complainant and his family were able to move to the United States as refugees. Their financial situation is precarious and they do not know what the future holds. 2.18 The abuse suffered by the complainant has had lasting effects on his health. He still has pain in the lumbar region, which requires continuous medication. He has also completely lost his sense of smell, which for him is a severely traumatic handicap, and despite two operations on his nose the doctors believe the damage is irreparable. 2.19 Several formal complaints were lodged about what happened to the complainant. The day after his arrest, his lawyer wrote to the Administrator-General of the Intelligence Service, with a copy to the President, informing him of his concerns about acts of torture inflicted on one of his clients, another detainee arrested at the same time as the complainant. A complaint was also filed with the Office of the Attorney General on 17 August 2006, followed by a medical certificate dated 1 September 2006 attesting to torture (see para. 2.13 above). Alerted by the families of those arrested at the same time as the complainant, as well as by human rights organizations, the Minister for National Solidarity, Human Rights and Gender went to the Intelligence Service on 3 August 2006 to look into the case herself. 2.20. In addition, when the complainant was arrested the facts were brought to the attention of government and administrative authorities by a number of national and international human rights organizations, notably by means of a call for urgent action by Amnesty International on 3 and 4 August 2006 and by the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) on 7 August 2006. On 4 August 2006, a coalition of 10 human rights organizations based in Burundi, among them the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Burundi, adopted a statement publicly condemning the arrest and detention of several people, including the complainant, who was specifically named in the statement. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Special Rapporteur on the question of torture also took joint action in an urgent appeal on 10 August 2006 on behalf of the complainant. The complainant also refers to the conclusions and recommendations adopted by the Committee following its consideration of the initial report of the State party in 2007, in which it called on the authorities to “conduct an immediate and impartial inquiry pursuant to reports that several of the persons detained for allegedly attempting a coup were subjected to torture”.5 2.21 The complainant also emphasizes that, at every stage of the judicial proceedings, his lawyer had challenged the probative value of the confessions signed under torture and on 30 August 2006 had appealed against the order confirming pretrial detention issued by the Supreme Court on 24 August 2006. This appeal has never been considered, yet the request 5 6 CAT/C/BDI/CO/1 (15 February 2007), para. 12. GE.15-00394