CAT/C/63/D/719/2015 United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Distr.: General 20 June 2018 Original: English Committee against Torture Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the Convention, concerning communication No. 719/2015*, ** Communication submitted by: H.A. and G.H. (represented by counsel, P.J. Schuller) Alleged victims: The complainants State party: Netherlands Date of complaint: 2 December 2015 (initial submission) Date of present decision: 17 May 2018 Subject matters: Risk of torture in the event of deportation to country of origin (non-refoulement); prevention of torture Procedural issue: Non-exhaustion of domestic remedies Substantive issue: Deportation of the complainants from the Netherlands to Armenia Articles of the Convention: 3 and 22 1.1 The complainants are H.A. and G.H., nationals of Armenia, born in 1982 and 1983 respectively. They sought asylum in the Netherlands, but their asylum applications have been rejected twice. They submit that, should the Netherlands proceed with their deportation to Armenia, it would be violating article 3 of the Convention. The complainants are represented by counsel. The facts as presented by the complainants 2.1 H.A. worked as a nurse at Arsen Hayryan Armash Medical Hospital in Armenia. The director of the hospital was a good friend of Hovik Abrahamyan, the then-speaker of the National Assembly. On 1 March 2008, the director of the hospital compelled H.A. to provide medical assistance to the police and the military during demonstrations that took place in Yerevan in the aftermath of the presidential elections. She was ordered to inject several civilian detainees with an unknown substance, but she refused and destroyed the capsules containing the substance. Consequently, she was severely beaten, held at the hospital overnight and required to turn over her passport. The next day, accomplices of Mr. * Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-third session (23 April–18 May 2018). ** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication: Essadia Belmir, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Honghong Zhang. GE.18-10075(E) 

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