CAT/C/47/D/351/2008
Factual background1
2.1
The complainant alleges that after her mother’s death in 1998 — which followed her
father’s death in 1990 — she lived with her two elder brothers until they left for Rwanda to
join the rebel forces in 2002. After their departure, she lived with her neighbours. On 22
June 2003, when the complainant was aged 15, she started to work as a receptionist in the
office of the rapporteur to the Congolese National Assembly in Kinshasa, Raphaël Luhulu
Lunghe. Her work included receiving distinguished visitors to the Parliament, preparing
documents for the sittings and cleaning the rapporteur’s office.
2.2
In 2004,2 the complainant allegedly received a telephone call from one of her
brothers, who apparently told her that he had joined the rebel forces and that he had asked
her to pass on all the information she had access to in the course of her work, especially
concerning any pending legislation or the composition and positions of the Congolese
armed forces. The complainant allegedly did as her brother asked and gave him a
considerable amount of information over the telephone.3
2.3
On 26 January 2005, the complainant reportedly received a warning from a member
of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR),4 who allegedly told her that he was aware of
her contacts with the rebel forces and the secret information she was passing on to them. On
the next day, the rapporteur allegedly summoned all the members of his staff to his office
and informed them that the Intelligence Agency was conducting an investigation and that
the informer would be found out sooner or later.
2.4
The complainant allegedly immediately informed her brother of the warning given
by the rapporteur in his office. In response, her brother supposedly took immediate steps to
help the complainant leave the country. The following day, the complainant allegedly
travelled by canoe to Brazzaville with the help of one of her brother’s contacts. She is said
to have stayed in hiding there in a house for a few days before flying to Switzerland on 22
March 2005.
2.5
On 23 March 2005, the complainant submitted an application for asylum. In a
decision dated 23 March 2005, the Swiss Federal Office for Migration (ODM) expressed
the view that the complainant’s statements did not meet the credibility requirement. ODM
considered in particular that it was unlikely that the complainant should have had access to
secret information, especially of a military nature, through her work in the rapporteur’s
office. Moreover, the complainant was unable to specify the content of the supposedly
secret information she passed on to her brother or to explain how the latter had heard about
her new job in the rapporteur’s office, considering that he had not been in touch with her
for years. Lastly ODM considered that the situation in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, which was not experiencing a civil war or generalized violence throughout the
country, did not warrant the complainant being deemed at risk in the meaning of article 14a,
paragraph 4, of the Swiss Federal Law on the Residence and Settlement of Foreigners.
2.6
On 4 July 2007, the complainant lodged an appeal against that decision with the
Federal Administrative Court (TAF). On 26 July, the complainant produced a copy of a
press article taken from the Congolese twice-weekly newspaper La Manchette, dated 28
January 2005, according to which the complainant was wanted by the political police,
1
2
3
4
GE.12-40233
The facts as stated are based on the complainant’s submissions and on the decisions concerning her
adopted in the course of asylum proceedings in Switzerland.
The exact date of this telephone call is not specified.
The content of this information is not specified.
The National Intelligence Agency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo acts as both an internal
and an external intelligence service.
3