R.K. (name withheld) v. Canada, Communication No. 42/1996,
U.N. Doc. CAT/C/19/D/42/1996 (1997).
Communication No. 42/1996
Submitted by: R. K. (name withheld)(represented by counsel)
State party: Canada
Date of communication: 22 February 1996
The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
Meeting on 20 November 1997,
Adopts the following decision:
Decision on admissibility
1. The author of the communication is Mr. Richard Kollo, a Liberian citizen
belonging to the Krahn ethnic group, born on 30 November 1967, currently
residing in Canada. He claims that his return to Liberia would constitute a violation
of article 3 of the Convention against Torture by Canada. He is represented by
counsel.
2.1 The author states that his uncle, who raised him following the death of his
father when he was two years old, was politically active; he was a member of the
United Liberation Movement of Liberia (ULIMO). In 1985, members of the Krahn
community who supported a certain political candidate were accused of electoral
fraud. Opposing the Krahn and in response to the alleged fraud, another political
party was founded in 1987: the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).
2.2 The author states that in 1990, his uncle was murdered by (military) members
of the NPFL. They also detained the author's cousin. After these events, the author
decided to seek refuge in the Red Cross office. He paid someone to help him to go
to Sierra Leone; he crossed the border with five other persons. In Sierra Leone, the
author hid in an ULIMO office.
2.3 One night, soldiers from the NPFL were searching for ULIMO members and
the author fled to Israel using his Liberian passport. During his stay in Israel,
someone stole his luggage and documents.