CAT/C/65/D/758/2016
campus. In November 2006, he was arrested and incarcerated in Kalit Karchale prison until
late January 2008.
2.2
During his time in prison, the complainant was subjected to severe acts of torture,
which were focused mainly on his genitals and abdomen. His scrotum was slashed with
scissors and his testicles scalded with hot water. He received blows to his lower abdomen
and genitals, a blade was thrust into his right side and bottles were inserted into his anus
and rectum. He also received violent blows to his back and on the soles of his feet.1
2.3
The complainant was released on an unspecified date on account of his extremely
poor state of health. In late March 2008, he received a letter from the Government of
Ethiopia informing him that he was to return to prison as soon as his health permitted it.
2.4
On 29 June 2008, the complainant fled from Ethiopia. Passing through Kenya and
the Sudan, he crossed the Libyan desert and in November 2008 crossed the Mediterranean
Sea from Libya by boat along with 485 other persons. Only 125 of them survived. The
complainant was picked up by Italian soldiers who transported him by helicopter to a
hospital in Rome for urgent treatment. As he was suffering from the effects of severe
dehydration and salt contamination, he remained in hospital for three months. During this
time, the doctors did not treat his health problems that were the result of the acts of torture
to which he had been subjected in Ethiopia. Towards the end of his stay in hospital, he was
interviewed by the Italian authorities. As soon as his state of health had improved, he was
taken to Grosseto.
2.5
On 1 May 2009, the complainant was granted refugee status and a five-year Italian
residence permit. His case file was assigned to police headquarters in Grosseto. Despite the
complainant not having fully recovered, on an unspecified date, the supervisor of the
reception centre ordered him to leave. Having still not left the centre a week later, the
police came and ordered him to vacate the premises. He had to live on the street for three
years2 and was entirely unable to obtain the medicine or protective diapers that he needed.
On several occasions, he asked to be treated at Grosseto hospital. However, he was refused
treatment as he was unable to provide a fixed address. He also approached the police, who
refused to assist him.
2.6
Given his poor state of health and having come to realize that he could not live in
Italy where he had been refused any kind of assistance, the complainant travelled to
Norway in March 2012 to apply for asylum. Immediately after his arrival, he received
intensive medical care on account of his extremely poor state of health. Throughout his stay
in Norway, he had to attend the hospital for treatment once or twice a week. Norway
requested Italy to take back the complainant. The Norwegian authorities assured the
complainant that he would be guaranteed medical and social care in Italy.
2.7
When the complainant arrived in Rome, the authorities sent him to Grosseto, where
the situation proved to be quite different to that described to him in Norway: instead of
taking responsibility for him, the local authorities made it quite clear that he would not
receive care, board or lodging and that he should leave. Worse still, the police confiscated
the documents3 that allowed him to reside in Italy, which were never returned to him.
2.8
His documents having been confiscated and knowing that he would be unable to
obtain any kind of assistance, the complainant travelled to Switzerland on 18 July 2012 and
1
2
3
2
According to the complainant, the beatings have compromised his psychological and physical
integrity. As demonstrated by diverse medical reports attached to the case file, he experiences pain in
his lower abdomen, genitals, right side and lower right limb, as well as urinary incontinence. He has
blood in his urine and suffers from both nocturia and pollakiuria, which require him to get up between
15 and 20 times a night to urinate in small quantities so as not to wet his bed. The complainant also
suffers from erectile dysfunction, painful haemorrhoids, constipation, sleep disorders, insomnia and
major depressive disorder. He is obliged to wear protective diapers on a permanent basis.
He lived in an abandoned stable, which housed some 15 people. There was no toilet or shower; the
place was wholly unsanitary. The complainant found it particularly difficult to live in such conditions,
given his state of health.
There is no further information on this point.
GE.19-01969