CAT/C/64/D/680/2015 Additional observations by the State party 11.1 In a note verbale of 8 March 2017, the State party submitted its observations with regard to the additional medical documents provided by the complainant. The State party notes that there is no new and credible information in these documents that engages its nonrefoulement obligations, including under article 3 of the Convention. The State party submits that the complainant’s claim of his injury in the armpit by a bayonet is inconsistent with his claim at the Refugee Review Tribunal regarding how he acquired the injury. Before the Tribunal, the complainant had claimed that he had been shot by the Taliban at his house and he had been hit in the stomach by one of the bullets. 7 He also claimed that, as it was winter, he was wearing jackets and had only noticed the injury some time later. It is not clear how the complainant could have acquired this injury to his armpit when his claim did not indicate that any Taliban members had entered his house or been involved in an altercation with him. 11.2 With regard to the report by the New South Wales Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors, the State party notes that, although it reveals that the complainant is symptomatic of trauma, anxiety, depression and hallucinations, it does not indicate that any of these issues have affected the complainant’s memory or ability to recount significant events in his personal history. Furthermore, the reported cause of his trauma is said to be a Taliban attack in which the complainant was hit with the heel of their guns, which is yet another unexplained discrepancy in the complainant’s claims regarding his injury. Additional observations by the complainant 12.1 On 22 March 2017, the complainant submitted his comments to the State party’s observations of 8 March 2017. The complainant states that he suffered two injuries, not one, which were inflicted in different incidents. The scar on his axilla was caused by a bayonet in the incident he reported to the Refugee Review Tribunal. The Tribunal did not record this incident clearly, and he has therefore submitted a new statement in an attempt to clarify what happened. 8 The second injury concerns his psychological state, namely, that he is suffering from trauma and depression. The trauma was caused by the violent confrontation and humiliation inflicted on him by the Taliban, and resulted in difficulties in talking coherently about that humiliation. The Tribunal’s decision record shows that he was beaten by the Taliban in front of his neighbours and family members. In this context, the garbled account reflected in the Tribunal’s decision record is a result of his difficulties remembering and talking about the incident. He refers to the guidelines on the assessment of credibility used by the Tribunal during his interview, and notes that according to the guidelines traumatic experiences may cause a person to forget dates, locations, events and personal experiences due to the lapse of time or other reasons. 12.2 Furthermore, the complainant notes that the New South Wales Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors has provided another report that highlights that he has been suffering from problems with his memory, especially where traumatic events are concerned. He also suffers from chronic lower back pain that stems from his mistreatment at the hands of the Taliban, hence it was difficult for him to concentrate during his interview with the Tribunal due to this continual pain. 9 Additional observations by the State party 13.1 In a note verbale of 20 October 2017, the State party submitted its comments to the complainant’s submission of 22 March 2017. The State party notes that the complainant’s 7 8 9 8 The Tribunal’s decision record provided by the complainant shows that, when the Tribunal asked him about the events of December 2009, the complainant had explained that the Taliban had fired Kalashnikovs at his house and that one of the bullets had gone through the wall and hit him near the stomach. The complainant provides a copy of the written statement with clarification in the form of a statutory declaration. The complainant provides copies of medical certificates, one of which was issued on the day before his interview with the Tribunal.