CAT/C/35/D/242/2003
Page 6
and (e) the improvement of the general human rights situation in Sri Lanka after the
conclusion of an armistice on 22 February 2002.
2.13 On 14 October 2003, the Swiss Asylum Review Board (ARK) dismissed the
complainant’s appeal on the following additional grounds: (a) further inconsistencies
in his account, e.g. the contradiction between his statement before the BFF on 19
December 2002 that he had not had any contact with the LTTE since 1994, and his
statement at the Swiss Embassy in Colombo that he left the LTTE in 1996, as well as
his claim that the LTTE had paid a bribe to free him from detention in October 1995;
or (b) the contradiction between his alleged six-day detention from 29 September
2000 and information from the German border police in Weil am Rhein, according to
which he had been in Germany between 23 August and 16 October 2000; (c) the fact
that the documents submitted by the complainant merely reflected that he was arrested
and released on several occasions, without establishing any link with the LTTE; (d)
the lack of authenticity of two letters from a Sri Lankan lawyer, confirming that the
complainant had been arrested as an LTTE suspect several times; (e) the absence of a
risk of treatment contrary to article 3 of the Convention; and (f) the applicability of
the Swiss-Sri Lankan repatriation agreement of 1994, under which the complainant
would be in possession of valid documents upon return to Sri Lanka, thus excluding a
risk of detention related to identity controls.
2.14 On 20 October 2003, the BFF ordered the complainant to leave Switzerland by
15 December 2003. On 9 December 2003, the Directorate for Labour and Migration
of the Canton of Uri convoked the complainant for 16 December 2003 to discuss the
modalities of his travel under the voluntary repatriation programme (“swissREPAT”)
chosen by him.
The complaint:
3.1
The complainant claims that he cannot return to Sri Lanka, from where he fled
during the civil war. He fears that he will be arrested upon return to Sri Lanka and
requests the Committee to assist him to obtain asylum in Switzerland or a third
country.
3.2
From the documents submitted by the complainant, it transpires that he does
not only fear persecution and torture at the hand of the Sri Lankan authorities, but also
by the LTTE and the PLOTE.
3.3
As part of the file of his asylum proceedings in Switzerland, the complainant
submitted, inter alia, the following documents: (a) a family notification by the ICRC
dated 23 July 1996, in Sinhalese; (b) an ICRC card carrying the complainant’s name
as well as an ICRC number; (c) a letter dated 26 February 1997 from a Colombobased lawyer, stating that the complainant had been arrested by the army on 13 July
1996 and detained until 26 February 1997; (d) two letters dated 2 September 2000 and
26 December 2002 from another lawyer, confirming arrests of the complainant in
1995, 1998 and 2000, drawing attention to the unsettled political situation in Sri
Lanka, and stating that on return, he would be charged under the Immigrants and
Emigrants (Amendment) Act No. 42 of 1998, 1 providing for sentences between one
1
Read together with Act No. 16 of 1993.