CAT/C/54/D/556/2013
complainant and his brother were arrested and tortured, and that their parents’ house was
burned down, a clear sign of foreseeable, real and personal risk.
State party’s further observations
6.
In a note verbale dated 9 June 2014, the State party submitted additional
observations. It reiterates its previous observations on the human rights situation in
Chechnya, and claims that the expulsion of the complainant would not lead to a violation of
article 3 of the Convention owing to this situation. Regarding the contention that there
should have been a medical examination by the Migration Board or the Migration Court,
the State party submits that it is up to the complainant to establish a prima facie case. The
complainant himself expressly stated that, apart from a scar on his eyebrow, there were no
visible scars or other injuries on his body from the torture that he allegedly suffered.
Issues and proceedings before the Committee
Consideration of admissibility
7.1
Before considering any complaint submitted in a communication, the Committee
must decide whether it is admissible under article 22 of the Convention. The Committee has
ascertained, as it is required to do under article 22 (5) (a) of the Convention, that the same
matter has not been and is not being examined under another procedure of international
investigation or settlement.
7.2
The Committee recalls that, in accordance with article 22 (5) (b) of the Convention,
it shall not consider any communication from an individual unless it has ascertained that the
individual has exhausted all available domestic remedies. It notes that in the present case
the State party has recognized that the complainant has exhausted all available domestic
remedies. As the Committee finds no further obstacles to admissibility, it declares the
communication admissible.
Consideration of the merits
8.1
The Committee has considered the communication in the light of all the information
made available to it by the parties concerned, in accordance with article 22 (4) of the
Convention.
8.2
The Committee must determine whether the deportation of the complainant to the
Russian Federation would violate the State party’s obligations under article 3 (1) of the
Convention not to expel or return (refouler) a person to another State where there are
substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to
torture. The Committee recalls that the existence in a country of gross, flagrant or mass
violations of human rights is not in itself a sufficient ground for believing that an individual
would be subjected to torture.13 Conversely, the absence of a consistent pattern of flagrant
violations of human rights does not mean that an individual might not be subjected to
torture.
8.3
Recalling its general comment No. 1 (1997), the Committee reaffirms that the risk of
torture must be assessed on grounds that go beyond mere theory or suspicion. However, the
risk does not have to meet the test of being highly probable, but it must be personal,
present, foreseeable and real.14
13
14
8
See communication No. 428/2010, Kalinichenko v. Morocco, decision adopted on 25 November
2011, para. 15.3.
See, inter alia, communications No. 203/2002, A.R. v. Netherlands, decision adopted on 14 November