CAT/C/23/D/63/1997
page 3
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author, who is of Basque origin, states that he left Spain in 1983 following numerous
arrests of persons reportedly belonging to ETA, the Basque separatist movement, by the security
forces in his native village and nearby. Many of the persons arrested, some of whom were his
childhood friends, were subjected to torture. During the interrogations and torture sessions, the
name of Josu Arkauz Arana had been one of those most frequently mentioned. Sensing that he
was a wanted person and in order to avoid being tortured, he fled. In 1984 his brother was
arrested. In the course of several torture sessions the members of the security forces asked the
latter questions about the author and said that Josu Arkauz Arana would be executed by the
Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups (GAL).
2.2
Several murders of Basque refugees and attempts on the lives of others took place close
to where the author was working in Bayonne. The author further states that the officer in charge
of the Biarritz police station summoned him in late 1984 to notify him of his fears that an
attempt on his life was being prepared and that the author’s administrative file, which contained
all the information necessary to locate him, had been stolen. He was therefore obliged to leave
his work and lead a clandestine existence. Throughout the period of his concealment, his
relatives and friends were continually harassed by the Spanish security forces. In June 1987 his
brother-in-law was arrested and tortured in an effort to make him reveal the author’s
whereabouts.
2.3
In March 1991 the author was arrested on the charge of belonging to ETA and sentenced
to eight years’ imprisonment for criminal conspiracy (“association de malfaiteurs”). He began
serving his sentence in Saint-Maur prison and was due to be released on 13 January 1997.
However, on 10 July 1992, he was further sentenced to a three-year ban from French territory.
He filed an appeal against the decision to ban him with the Paris Court of Major Jurisdiction in
October 1996, but no action was taken.
2.4
On 15 November 1996 the Ministry of the Interior commenced a proceeding for the
author’s deportation from French territory. A deportation order can be enforced by the
administration ex officio and means that the person concerned is automatically taken to the
border. The author applied to the Administrative Court of Limoges on 13 December 1996
requesting the annulment of the deportation order which might be made out against him and a
stay of execution of such an order if it were to be issued. However, his application for a stay of
execution was rejected by a ruling of 15 January 1997, the court having taken the view that
handing over the author would not be likely to have irreversible consequences for him. An
appeal from this ruling was not possible because the deportation measure had already been
implemented.
2.5
On 10 December 1996 the author began a hunger strike to protest against his deportation.
Later, because of his deteriorating health, the author was transferred to the local prison at
Fresnes, in the Paris region, where he again went on strike, refusing to take liquids.
2.6
On 17 December 1996 the author was informed that the Deportation Board of the Indre
Prefecture had rendered an opinion in favour of his deportation, considering that his presence in
French territory constituted a serious threat to public order. The Board did, however, remind the