CAT/C/50/D/431/2010 2.7 Due to this constant surveillance and intimidation and marked by her various arrests and mistreatments, the complainant developed severe mental health problems. She was afraid to leave the house, and each time she did so she feared that she might be arrested and mistreated again. In 2002 she had turned to the well-known TOHAV Rehabilitation Centre, which specializes in mental health treatment for torture victims, and followed their rehabilitation programme from 2002 to 2006. In 2006, she stopped the treatment for fear of being followed and arrested, since TOHAV, itself a prominent advocate of human rights and prevention of torture, was very exposed. 2.8 In spring 2008, the complainant felt no longer able to live under these circumstances, practically a prisoner in her own house under constant fear. A cousin of hers had been arrested by the police during a first of May demonstration in 2007 and was told by the police that their family should be exterminated. The complainant was strongly advised by her lawyer to leave the country for her own safety. She arranged her illegal departure for Switzerland, where she arrived on 11 September 2008. The complainant has been informed by her parents that since her escape the police had repeatedly searched for her at her parents’ home. 2.9 The complainant applied for asylum on 15 September 2008. She attended an initial hearing with the Federal Office for Migration on 25 September 2008, and a s econd hearing on 22 June 2009. On that occasion she submitted documentary evidence in support of her allegations.1 On 19 March 2010, the Federal Office for Migration rejected her application. It stated that, even though the complainant might have indeed suffered certain threats and intimidations, the intensity of the persecutions as reported by the complainan t appeared exaggerated; it would not appear reasonable that the Turkish authorities would have persecuted her repeatedly over a period of many years for the same matter; rather, an indictment would surely have been issued had there really been a suspicion against her. The Federal Office stated that, if the complainant had really been suspected of aiding and abetting her sister’s escape, a criminal case would have been initiated against her. Moreover, the allegation that she had been detained each time she visited her sister in prison seemed highly improbable, because such behaviour by the prison authorities would appear to be totally inefficient. The Federal Office further pointed to several inconsistencies in the complainant’s allegations regarding the various periods of persecution by the authorities. It finally concluded that the intensity and persistence of the persecutions in the past and, as a consequence, the likelihood of persecution in the future, was not sufficiently credible. 2.10 Further, the Federal Office for Migration found the complainant’s allegations of arrest and ill-treatment in 1998 credible and corroborated by significant evidence, however those events dated back too far to allow for the necessary causal link to her present asylum request. The Federal Office noted that, while persecution for one’s own past illegal political activities and those of relatives was widespread in Turkey until the late 1990s, this was no longer the case, adding that the situation in Turkey had improved considerably since 2001 and since Turkey had issued new guarantees for criminal proceedings in 2005. Therefore, it stated that, even though it might still be conceivable that a person suspected of having contact with a wanted person or who engaged with illegal organizations might be exposed to police measures, such measures in the majority of cases would no longer qualify as persecutions warranting asylum. The Federal Office considered the events of 1998 and some persecution in the past as credible, but found not credible the claim that the 1 4 She submitted, inter alia, newspaper clippings on arrests of MCC members; the transcript of the arrest, house search and confiscation report; the transcript of her interrogation by the anti-terrorist department; the indictment by the Supreme State Prosecutor of the State Security Court of Istanbul; newspaper articles on her release.