CAT/C/35/D/247/2004
Page 9
6.6
The Committee has equally noted that the complainant filed an application in
the European Court of Human Rights, regarding events which occurred after 10
February 1998, which, according to him, can be clearly distinguished from the issues
submitted to the Committee. This application was declared inadmissible on 29 April
2005. The European Court held, inter alia, that the complainant’s allegations of
mistreatment on death row, which are identical to the claims in the present
communication, were inadmissible 8 .
6.7
In this context, the Committee recalls that it shall not consider any
communications from an individual under article 22, paragraph 5 (a), of the
Convention, unless it has ascertained that the same matter has not been, and is not
being, examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement;
the Committee is satisfied that examination by the European court of Human Rights
constitutes an examination by such a procedure.
6.8
The Committee considers that a communication has been, and is being
examined by another procedure of international investigation or settlement if the
examination by the procedure relates/related to the “same matter” within the meaning
of article 22, paragraph 5 (a), that must be understood as relating to the same parties,
the same facts, and the same substantive rights. It observes that Application No.
34132/03 was submitted to the European Court by the same complainant, was based
on the same facts, and related, at least in part, to the same substantive rights as those
invoked in the present communication.
6.9
Having concluded that the “same matter” has been the object of the
complainant’s Application before the European Court and it was examined and
declared inadmissible, the Committee considers that the requirements of article 22,
para. 5 (a), have not been met in the present case. In the circumstances, the Committee
decides that it is not necessary to examine the other two grounds of inadmissibility,
namely on ratione temporis and non exhaustion of domestic remedies.
7.
The Committee against Torture consequently decides:
(a)
That the communication is inadmissible;
(b)
That the present decision shall be communicated to the State party and
to the complainant.
[Adopted in English, French, Russian and Spanish, the English text being the original
version. Subsequently to be issued also in Arabic and Chinese as part of the
Committee's annual report to the General Assembly.]
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8
The Committee has noted that the European Court, acting through a Committee of three judges,
declared the application inadmissible on two grounds: partly on a) non-exhaustion of domestic
remedies (articles 3, 8, 14, and 34, of the European Convention), and b) with regard to the applicant’s
remaining complaints, on the ground that the information before the Court does not reveal any violation
of the applicant’s rights and freedoms under the Convention.