CAT/C/34/D/195/2002
Page 4
also alleges that he received threatening letters from Islamist groups, demanding that he desert or
risk execution. He forwarded the threatening letters to the police.
2.4
Later, when the complainant was helping a friend wash his car, a vehicle stopped
alongside them and a submachine gun burst was fired in their direction. The complainant’s
friend was killed on the spot; the complainant survived because he was inside the car. The
village police officer then advised the complainant to leave immediately. On 25 November
1994, the complainant succeeded in fleeing his country. He arrived at Marseille and met one of
his brothers in Orléans (Indre). In August 1995, the complainant made a request for asylum,
which was later denied by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons
(OFPRA). Since the complainant had made the request without the assistance of counsel, he was
unable to appeal the decision to the Refugee Appeals Commission.
2.5
The complainant adds that, since he left Algeria, his two brothers have been arrested and
tortured. One died in police custody. Moreover, since his desertion, two telegrams from the
Ministry of Defence have arrived at the complainant’s home in Abadia, demanding that he report
immediately to air force headquarters in Cheraga in connection with a “matter concerning him”.
In 1998, the complainant was sentenced in France to eight years’ imprisonment for a rape
committed in 1995. The sentence was accompanied by a 10-year temporary ban from French
territory. As the result of a remission of sentence, the complainant was released on 29 August
2001.
2.6
Meanwhile, on 23 May 2001, the prefect of Indre issued an order for the deportation of
the complainant. In a decision taken on the same day, he determined that Algeria would be the
country of destination. On 12 July 2001, the complainant lodged an appeal with the Limoges
Administrative Court against the deportation order and the decision to return him to his country
of origin. In an order dated 29 August 2001, the court’s interim relief judge suspended
enforcement of the decision on the country of return, considering that the risks to the
complainant’s safety involved in a return to Algeria raised serious doubts as to the legality of the
deportation decision. Nevertheless, in a judgement dated 8 November 2001, the Administrative
Court rejected the appeal against the order and the designated country of return.
2.7
On 4 January 2002, the complainant appealed against this judgement to the Bordeaux
Administrative Court of Appeal. He points out that such an appeal does not have suspensive
effect. He also refers to recent case law of the Council of State which he maintains demonstrates
the inefficacy of domestic remedies in two similar cases.1 In those cases, which involved
deportation to Algeria, the Council of State dismissed the risks faced by the persons concerned,
but the Algerian authorities subsequently unearthed a death sentence passed in absentia. On 30
September 2002, the complainant was deported to Algeria on a flight to Algiers and has been
missing since.