CAT/C/70/D/743/2016
2.7
On 14 March 2016, the complainant was invited to a meeting with the Refugee
Appeals Board. He explained to his counsel that he had informed the Danish Immigration
Service during his first interview about the tortures that he had suffered in the past, but that
he had never been asked to sign a paper confirming his readiness to undergo medical
examinations in that regard. During the meetings, none of the Board members asked the
complainant any questions. The medical report regarding the complainant’s torture, prepared
by the Amnesty International Danish Medical Group and dated 25 September 2014, was also
not discussed.
2.8
The Refugee Appeals Board issued its decision on the complainant’s case on 17
March 2016, finding no reason to request a medical examination. On 21 March 2016, the
complainant was informed by the police that he had to leave Denmark immediately.
2.9
The complainant claims that he subsequently applied to the European Court of Human
Rights, but that his case was never registered.2
2.10 The complainant claims that his deportation would constitute a violation by the State
party of his rights under article 3 of the Convention. In support of his claim, he notes that
several reports, including the report by the Amnesty International Danish Medical Group,
show that the human rights situation in Turkey is such that deportation would violate article
3 of the Convention, with the authorities using excessive force, torture and ill-treatment. The
complainant reiterates that:
(a)
He has been tortured in the past, as documented in the medical report by
Amnesty International dated 25 September 2014, and no other medical reports have been
produced despite his specific requests to the Danish immigration authorities in this
connection;
(b)
He was politically active in PKK in the past, but he quit and will be punished
by PKK if he returns to Turkey;
(c)
His credibility has been questioned by the Danish immigration authorities, but
they never questioned that he has been active for the Kurdish cause since 2006;
(d)
The Danish authorities never questioned that he refused to perform compulsory
military service and that he fears not only imprisonment and ill-treatment in this connection,
but also forcible enrolment in the army.
2.11 The Refugee Appeals Board has focused on the issue of credibility: although a
majority of the Board members questioned the complainant’s credibility, they were unable
to reach agreement as to which points they did not believe. While elsewhere such a decision
could normally be appealed, in Denmark decisions of the Board are not subject to court
control. In this connection, the complainant notes that the Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination, in its concluding observations following its consideration of the
sixteenth and seventeenth periodic reports of Denmark submitted under the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, expressed concern
that decisions by the Board on asylum requests were final and could not be appealed before
a court (CERD/C/DEN/CO/17, para. 13).
2.12 The complainant claims that the responsibility for evaluation of the risks of forcible
removal based on past torture rests with the State party. In his opinion, the Refugee Appeals
Board tried to avoid this obligation. First, the Board refused to reopen the asylum case on 18
September 2015, when it noted that the report by Amnesty International did not contain such
new relevant information as to require the reopening of the case. Second, following the
adoption by the Committee in November 2015 of its decision concerning communication No.
580/2014, the Board did reopen the case, but the proceedings resulted in no change. The
complainant claims that all of the Board’s decisions, in 2015 and 2016 and earlier, were in
violation of article 3 of the Convention.
2
Later in his submission, the complainant’s counsel contradicts himself by stating, without further
clarification, that the European Court of Human Rights has declared the case inadmissible.
3