CAT/C/52/D/466/2011
torture marks. Nothing in the case file indicates that the complainant requested a medical
examination. On 8 November 2002, the Danish Refugee Appeals Board (the Appeals
Board) upheld the decision on appeal.3 At the same time, the Appeals Board did not contest
the complainant’s claim that he had been an active member of the PRK until the police had
arrested him in May 1983; that he had been tortured during the first 38 days in detention, in
particular beaten on his feet and body, hung by the arms, forced to stand for 24 hours, and
subjected to electroshock, cold showers and psychological pressure. Although after the first
38 days in detention the torture became less severe, he continued to be beaten regularly.
The Appeals Board also noted that the complainant had been sentenced to 20 years’
imprisonment in 1988 but had been released on parole in 1991, on the condition that he stop
his political activities.4 According to the complainant, the Appeals Board found that his
account lacked credibility, because he had forgotten to inform the Danish authorities of his
refugee status in Romania and had submitted that he had travelled by plane from Turkey to
Copenhagen in 2001.
2.7
Later in 2002, after the rejection of his asylum request, the complainant left
Denmark for Sweden, where he requested asylum and family reunification. On an
unspecified date, the Swedish asylum authorities rejected his asylum request, for lack of
credibility, and deported him back to Denmark on 19 September 2003, under article 10,
paragraph 1 (e), of the Convention determining the State responsible for examining
applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member States of the European Communities
(Dublin Convention).5
2.8
On 13 October 2003, the Appeals Board asked the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide information regarding the
complainant’s refugee status in Romania. On 10 January 2005, UNHCR submitted that he
had applied for refugee status in Romania on 13 October 1996. On 13 August 1997, he had
been granted asylum for three years there, on the grounds of his PRK membership since
1976, his imprisonment between 1983 and 1991, and his ill-treatment in detention. His
permit to stay in Romania had been extended until 11 August 2002. However, as he had not
requested the subsequent extension of his permit, he could not again take up residence in
Romania. On 15 September 2005, the Appeals Board received a copy of the complainant’s
asylum file from UNHCR.
3
4
5
4
As per the decision of 8 November 2002, on file, the Appeals Board emphasized that the applicant
had not given a detailed account of his alleged political activities; rather, he had described them in
very general terms. It also emphasized the reply of 5 April 2002 of the Danish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, in which the Ministry submitted its assessment that the applicant would not risk prosecution
for the activities he conducted for the PRK, if returned to Turkey, as he was not mentioned in the
indictment of the 1994 proceedings and as his activities for the PRK were of a non-violent nature; it
would be possible for him to return to Turkey without a Turkish passport by presenting his Turkish
identification. The Appeals Board considered that the applicant had not rendered it probable that he
would risk a disproportionate punishment if returned to Turkey due to his failure to perform his
military service.
Before the Appeals Board in 2002, the complainant submitted that he had stopped his political
activities for the PRK in 1999.
Although no relevant decision of the Swedish authorities has been provided, it appears from the
material on file that the claimant did not inform those authorities of his refugee status in Romania. It
should be noted that under article 10, paragraph 1 (e), of the Dublin Convention, the European Union
Member State responsible for examining an application for asylum according to the criteria set out in
the Convention is obliged to take back an alien whose application it has rejected and who is illegally
in another Member State.