CAT/C/56/D/671/2015
submits that there are new facts since the application to the Court, notably that he has
received “virulent death threats”.
5.2
With regard to the State party’s view that his complaint is manifestly unfounded as
concerns the alleged risk of torture, the complainant objects to this statement as the State
party provides no supporting evidence. He claims the State party has not investigated
thoroughly his claims.8 The State party’s authorities contacted the United States Embassy in
Budapest, which responded that all of the complainant’s rights have been respected.
Furthermore, he contends that he had provided documentation about his own experiences
and the circumstances of foreigners and minorities in United States detention facilities.
Notably, he claims to have been subjected to torture through pain, suffering, physical and
mental abuse inflicted upon him by prison staff and other officials, as well as inmates. He
submits that, despite his numerous letters to the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons
about the ongoing torture, he was not given any remedy but was instead subjected to
prolonged isolation. He claims that he filed court documents stating he wanted to bring
criminal charges against the guards, but that they were never answered. Despite his
petitions to the judge and prosecutor in his case, nothing was done to assist him. The
complainant also asserts that long-term solitary confinement and lack of staff to provide
mental health services are a practice in the United States prisons’ system, referring to the
Committee’s concluding observations on the combined third to fifth periodic reports of the
United States (CAT/C/USA/CO/3-5).
5.3
Furthermore, the complainant submits that he received anti-Semitic death threats
from the United States on two occasions in November 2014 aimed at himself and his
family, which were not investigated by the State party for a period of several months. They
were sent to him by post with his wife falsely marked as the sender. The death threats were
addressed to him personally, in English and of an anti-Semitic nature, since they made
direct references to his Jewish faith. Furthermore, the second letter was posted from the
address of a Jewish cemetery in the state to which he is requested to be extradited. The
complainant submits that he presented this evidence on both occasions to the prison guards
and subsequently filed criminal charges with the State party’s police in the fall of 2014. He
was called upon to give witness testimony by the police only six months later, on 3 April
2015. Furthermore, he has petitioned the State party to request mutual legal assistance from
the United States in order to investigate the death threats, but his formal request was
rejected. On 17 April 2015, his complaint was dismissed by the Budapest police, on the
grounds that there was no realistic possibility of establishing the perpetrator of the crime.
He was informed that the Budapest police has not been contacted by the competent
authorities of the United States regarding the matter. On 5 May 2015, he lodged a
complaint against the decision of the police.
5.4
He maintains that he has provided expert forensic psychiatric evidence that his
condition of post-traumatic stress disorder is a direct consequence of the mistreatment and
torture that he was submitted to while in United States custody.
5.5
On 15 April 2015, the Metropolitan Court extended the complainant’s detention,
taking into consideration the Committee’s request for interim measures of protection.
8
6
The complainant refers to a correspondence dated 14 April 2015 from the head of the International
Criminal Law Department at the Ministry of Justice to the Metropolitan Court of Budapest, stating
that, in its view, “the plaintiff is abusing the authority of the Committee since the concerns stated on
his part have already been examined by the Hungarian authorities, and the United States authorities
have provided sufficient guarantees to ensure that the plaintiff will not be subjected to torture and
other humiliating treatment, and he can also freely practice his religious beliefs while incarcerated,
furthermore his mental condition will be treated adequately”.