CAT/C/28/D/146/1999 page 4 2.4 The Danish Immigration Service rejected the complainant’s application for asylum on 22 May 1998. On 31 July 1998 her then counsel appealed to the Refugee Board. The application was rejected on 4 August 1998, and the complainant was ordered to leave Denmark on 19 August 1998. Two applications to reopen the complainant’s case, submitted on 17 August and on 29 October 1998/1 December 1998, were refused by the Refugee Board on 23 September 1998 and 26 January 1999 respectively. 2.5 In the Refugee Board decision of 4 August 1998’s grounds for rejection, the Board considered that the attack of the prison on 31 December 1993, if it really happened, would have been mentioned in the background material available on Georgia, and that the complainant’s father would have mentioned this attack in his own application for asylum, which he did not do. Even if basing its decision on the complainant’s story, the Board did not consider that the complainant would be persecuted if returned to Georgia. They referred to information received from the UNHCR regarding that Gamsakhurdia partisans are not persecuted only because they have supported Gamsakhurdia. 2.6 In the application of 29 October 1998, counsel requested a reopening of the complainant’s asylum case, in the light of new information he had received. This information contained two new documents, including a death certificate for her husband and a declaration from 10 of her neighbours in Gegetjkori, confirming that the complainant had been threatened and persecuted by unknown persons, who also killed their dog, leaving it in front of their door as a warning vendetta. Furthermore, counsel refers to media reports of new outbreaks between Zwiadists and government forces. Counsel also submitted Amnesty International’s “Concerns for Georgia”, October 1996, including information about torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners. In the letter of 1 December 1998, he submitted the complainant’s Medical Record dating from her arrival in 1996 and describing her experiences of being subjected to torture. 2.7 On 22 February 1999, counsel requested reopening of the case on the basis of two reports from 1997 and 1998, from The International Helsinki Federation, describing serious human rights violations in Georgia. In response to the Refugee Board’s grounds for rejection, he contended that the reports show that freedom of expression is restricted in Georgia, and that it was only in the authorities’ interest that the attack of the Zugdidi prison and escape of prisoners was not published through local media. Furthermore, although the reports do not describe the demonstration on 19 November 1993, they refer to several similar demonstrations in the periods prior to and following the demonstration of 19 November 1993. He also submitted that the complainant’s description of the prison conditions is consistent with the reports. On 8 March, the Refugee Board rejected the application. 2.8 In May 1999, counsel directed letters about the complainant to 18 members of the Danish Parliament, requesting that they address the Minister of the Interior and ask that the complainant obtain a residence permit for humanitarian reasons. Seven members of the Parliament contacted the Minister, who in turn referred the case to the Refugee Board, which rejected the request.