CAT/C/62/D/722/2015
final and that the applicant must voluntarily leave the country, or be forced to do so by the
police.
5.8
The complainant submits that the fact that he was arrested and scheduled to be
forcibly removed from Norway illustrates that he had indeed exhausted all available
domestic remedies. Furthermore, according to article 22 (5) (b) of the Convention, the
remedies do not have to be exhausted if they are unreasonably prolonged or unlikely to
bring effective relief. The complainant’s asylum application had been continuing for almost
five years.
5.9
The complainant also hopes that he will be able to mount a legal challenge, since the
Committee has granted interim measures and he can now stay in the country and fight for
his rights. The Committee should continue looking into the case until it makes its
determination, since it can make an independent assessment based on “hard evidence”. The
complainant urges the Committee to maintain interim measures until then.
5.10 The claims of the State party regarding the lack of risk of irreparable harm if he is
returned to his country are based on the 2007 report, which is almost 10 years old and does
not reflect reality on the ground. The State party incorrectly claims that the central
Government does not have effective control over the regions. The contrary is true: the
central Government has an army, police forces and prison authorities in the country,
including in the eastern part of the country and in Kinshasa.
Additional information from the complainant
6.1
On 27 July 2016, 11 August 2017 and 14 November 2017, the complainant provided
additional submissions. He submits that he lost his court case, that he will be deported to
the Democratic Republic of the Congo and that he was also forced to pay court fees. The
judge again relied on the findings of the Directorate of Immigration and the Immigration
Appeals Board. The judge did not consider his lawyer’s arguments and other “independent
evidence”.
6.2
The complainant also submits that despite the Committee’s request to the State party
to refrain from expelling the complainant while it considers his case, he was detained in
August 2016 by three Norwegian police officers, kept for 30 days in solitary confinement
and deported in September 2016. At Kinshasa airport, the three Norwegian police officers
who had travelled with him handed him over to the local police. Those police officers
questioned the complainant regarding his reasons for leaving the country and why he was
coming back escorted by three Norwegian police officers.
6.3
The complainant submits that he lived for one week in a church in Kinshasa and that
finally the church helped him to buy a ticket to Bukavu. On 5 July 2017, three Congolese
police officers arrived at his home to arrest him. They hit him and intimidated him. His
wife gave them some “small money”, but the police officers said that it was not enough and
took him to the central prison in Bukavu.
6.4
At prison, he was treated like an “animal” for six days. On 5 June 2017, the prison
was attacked by an unknown group of people and the complainant was able to escape. He
went home, picked up some of his personal belongings and left for Uganda, where he is
currently seeking asylum with the office of the Prime Minister in charge of refugees. The
complainant does not feel secure, however, since he was told about unknown persons with
his picture in their possession looking for him. The complainant therefore asks the
Committee for further assistance so he can “live in peace”.
State party’s additional observations
7.1
On 10 October 2016, the State party provided additional observations, including a
translated copy of the decision of the Oslo district court dated 26 July 2016. The State party
submits that the complainant decided not to appeal this decision within the one-month
statutory period required and, as a consequence, the decision became legally binding. Two
administrative instances and one court instance have, after a comprehensive assessment of
the facts and the law, found that the complainant’s application for asylum cannot succeed
7