CAT/C/23/D/93/1997 page 6 of refugee status would have been regarded as a first application and not as an “abuse of process” or “deliberate fraud” which could, under the terms of article 10 of the Act of 25 July 1952, justify a refusal of provisional authorization to reside in France. The author could thus have been granted a provisional authorization to reside in France until OFPRA and, on appeal, CRR had ruled on his application. 4.10 Nor can the author maintain that the judicial authorities could not have been persuaded to lift the order banning him from France after his secret return in 1995. Article 28 bis of the ordinance of 2 November 1945 does indeed say that an application to lift a ban from French territory can be entertained only if the alien is living outside France, but the same article provides for an exception where the alien is subjected to a restricted residence order. Since such an order is issued by the administrative authorities when it is established that the individual concerned cannot return to his country of origin because, inter alia, of the risks he might be exposed to there, the author was at liberty to appear before the authorities in the appropriate prefecture to have his situation considered in that regard. He refrained from taking such a step. 4.11 It is thus clearly apparent that, since returning to France in 1995, the author has not made use of the legal channels which would have enabled him effectively to explain both to OFPRA and CRR and to the administrative authorities the risks to which he would be allegedly exposed in his country of origin, and to secure effective protection against any action to expel him. 4.12 On the other hand, the author of the communication under consideration has recently brought two appeals before the administrative courts: the first, dated 18 February 1999, seeks a stay of execution of the decision dated 3 July 1998 by the Prefect of Haute-Vienne rejecting his application for residence, and the second, dated 25 February 1999, seeks to have that same decision quashed. Since those two appeals are currently pending, the communication is premature. C. Author’s lack of victim status 4.13 The author is at present illegally within French territory, inasmuch as his latest application for a residence permit, submitted pursuant to the circular dated 24 June 1997 on the review of the situation of certain categories of illegal aliens, was definitively rejected by ministerial decision on 16 December 1998. Nevertheless, he does not at present face any administrative or judicial action to expel him. The decision banning him from French territory for three years taken by the Paris Correctional Court on 14 March 1994 has lapsed. Nor is there any order for his deportation for being in France illegally. So long as no such order has been issued by the Prefect, he is safe from any action to expel him to the former Zaire. 4.14 On the assumption that such an order were issued, its implementation would require a decision by the Prefect naming the country of destination. If, at that time, the individual concerned established that his life or liberty would be at risk or that he would be exposed to treatment in breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the event of being returned to his country of origin, expulsion to that country could not be carried out by virtue of article 27 bis of the aforesaid ordinance, and he would be made subject to a restricted residence order in accordance with article 28 of the ordinance.