Communication No. 182/2001 Submitted by: Mr. A.I. (represented by counsel, Mr. Hans Peter Roth) Alleged victim: The complainant State party: Switzerland Date of complaint: 5 March 2001 (initial submission) The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Meeting on 12 May 2004, Having concluded its consideration of complaint No. 182/2001, submitted to the Committee against Torture by Mr. A.I. under article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the author of the complaint, his counsel and the State party, Adopts the following decision under article 22 of the Convention. 1.1 The complainant is A.I., a Sri Lankan national of Tamil origin, born in 1977, currently residing in Switzerland, and awaiting his deportation to Sri Lanka. He claims that his forcible return to Sri Lanka would amount to a violation by Switzerland of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is represented by counsel. 1.2 On 25 April 2001, the Committee forwarded the communication to the State party for comments. The Committee notes that the State party decided, of its own motion, not to return the complainant to Sri Lanka while his case is pending before the Committee. The facts as submitted by the complainant 2.1 The complainant is from Chankanai in the north of Sri Lanka. In July 1995, he and his family fled the hostilities between combatants in the civil war, and temporarily stayed in a refugee camp near Navaly. During the bombing of a Catholic church in Navaly by the Sri Lankan Air Force, he witnessed the killing of numerous refugees who had sought shelter in that church, including some of his remote relatives. The complainant and his family subsequently went to the then LTTEa-controlled Chavakachcheri, where his younger brother, S., joined the LTTE. 2.2 In January 1996, the complainant and his mother travelled to Colombo to make arrangements for his departure from Sri Lanka. Following a bomb attack on a bank in Colombo, in which a neighbour was involved, the complainant and his mother were arrested by security forces on 31 January 1996, and detained at the Pettah police station. On 8 and 16 February 1996, 139