CAT/C/50/D/431/2010 complainant would still suffer persecution as intensely as alleged. Finally, the Federal Office concluded that there was no evidence that upon her return to Turkey the complainant would, with significant probability, face treatment contrary to article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms . 2.11 On 21 April 2010, the complainant filed an appeal with the Federal Administrative Tribunal, and submitted additional documents in support of her allegations. She stressed that the persecution had various phases, in parallel with the procedures against her sister and her own engagement with the MCC. Accordingly, the police had various reasons for engaging in the surveillance, intimidation, arrest and ill-treatment, such as to put pressure on her sister to surrender and then to talk; to prevent the complainant from covering for her sister by taking advantage of their physical resemblance and from taking over her sister’s illegal activities; to pressure her for her activities within the PKK linked with the MCC; and to punish her for the illegal activities of her sister and her escape from the country. As to the fact that she had not been arrested for helping her sister to escape in 2002, the complainant pointed out that blame for her sister’s to escape had been placed on her because her resemblance had allowed her sister to move freely and thus to escape. Obviously this was not a criminal offence that could lead to an indictment. 2.12 Regarding the inefficiency of detaining her each time she visited her sister in prison, the complainant recalled that the purpose of these measures was to prevent her from replacing her sister in prison and thus letting her escape. She also put forward various arguments to explain that there were no inconsistencies in her allegations, contrary to the claims of the Federal Office for Migration. As to the causal link between the uncontested traumatic events of 1998 and her escape in 2008, the complainant stressed that she had clearly not based her asylum request on these events alone but rather on the continuous intimidations, surveillance, arrests and molestations by security forces from the time her sister had started her illegal activities until the complainant finally fled Turkey in 2008. 2.13 In her appeal the complainant also rejected the view of the Federal Office for Migration that the human rights situation in Turkey had improved considerably and that the risk of persecution for one’s own past activities or those of close relatives was unlikely, and referred to the recent case law of the Federal Administrative Tribunal (for example, its decision of 8 September 2005, EMARK 2005/21), according to which the relevant legislative changes that had been implemented recently in Turkey in reality had not materialized; the security forces of Turkey continued to crack down on members of Kurdish organizations; torture was still so widespread that it must even be cons idered standard official practice; and family members of suspected Kurdish activists continued to be at risk of severe repression. She also made reference to numerous recent reports of international and domestic organizations on the human rights situation in Turkey and su bmitted as supporting documentation reports by Amnesty International (2009),2 Human Rights Watch (2010)3 and the Swiss Refugee Council (2008).4 2.14 The complainant also indicated in the appeal that, since her arrival in Switzerland, she had had several breakdowns. She finally argued that, in view of the severe persecution, intimidation, arrests and mistreatment she had suffered until her escape from Turkey for her own and her sister’s activities, the zeal demonstrated by the Turkish authorities to get hold of her sister through her, the fact that since her escape the police had continued to search for her at her parents’ home and the still critical human rights situation in Turkey , in 2 3 4 “T urkey”, in Amnesty International Report 2009: The State of the World’s Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, “T urkey”, in World Report 2010, pp. 455-459. Swiss Refugee Council, country report on Turkey (2008). 5