but was sentenced to prison for two years and ten days upon discovery. In his petition to the Government submitted in January 1999 he stated that he had been sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment because he had run away from the place in the jungle to which his family had been forcibly moved and had participated in the organization of a group which aim was to help others who were still left in the jungle to escape. He then claimed that he was caught together with four others, three of whom were sentenced to death and one to 17 years in prison. It is also noted by the State party that the author has provided no evidence to substantiate his claim that he was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. 6.5 The State party also refers to other peculiarities and inconsistencies, such as the fact that if the author's most recent account is true, his three eldest children must have been conceived in prison, and that it is unlikely that any uninhabited islands are to be found in the area where the author claims to have hidden after his escape from prison. The State party maintains that these inconsistencies are reasons to doubt the credibility and veracity of the first claim of the author, based on his alleged past experience of torture and escape from prison. 6.6 With reference to the inconsistencies mentioned, the State party submits that all three interviews held with the author were conducted in the presence of a Vietnamese interpreter and that the author stated that he understood the interpreter well. 6.7 With reference to the author's flight from Viet Nam, the State party draws the attention of the Committee to the fact that the author has only mentioned pursuing soldiers having been injured or killed in his submission to the Committee and in his request to the Government for leave to appeal, and that no information to this effect was given during the initial police interview, the judicial proceedings or during the interview conducted by the Swedish Immigration Board in May 1999. The State party submits that this indicates that the author does not attach any particular importance to the circumstance and that he does not fear that it will entail any serious consequences for him, particularly as it has not been asserted that the author himself is, or is suspected of being, personally responsible for the shooting. Furthermore, it is submitted that accounts of shootings in connection with escapes from Viet Nam in the 1980s are common but that in no case has it been possible to verify this information. 6.8 As regards the risk of the author being ill-treated by a private person, i.e. the owner of the boat which the author stole in order to escape, the State party recalls the definition of torture as contained in article 1 of the Convention, as well as the Committee's views regarding the case of G.R.B. v. Sweden (communication No. 83/1997) adopted on 15 May 1998. The State party submits that the risk of ill-treatment by a private person, without the consent or acquiescence of the Government of the country to which expulsion is to take place, falls outside the scope of article 3 of the Convention. 6.9 The State party submits that, according to the Swedish Embassy in Hanoi, there is no indication that the author is of any particular interest to the Vietnamese authorities at present. No evidence has been brought forward by the author to support the claim that he is wanted by the police after his escape from Viet Nam. Reiterating its doubts as to the veracity of the author's claim, the State party submits that even if this information was to be considered as credible and if it was assumed that the author would in fact be detained and imprisoned upon his return, the risk of detention and imprisonment as such is not sufficient to prompt the absolute protection provided for in article 3 of the Convention. In this context, the State party recalls that there is little evidence that torture is practised in Viet Nam. 6.10 Finally, the State party informs the Committee that one of the Vietnamese nationals who were convicted of gross rape in the same trial as the author was expelled to Viet Nam in April 1998. Although the expelled person claimed that he had left the country illegally and had committed a crime in connection with his escape, the information received by the State party regarding his current situation does not indicate that he has been treated badly by the Vietnamese authorities since his return. 139