CAT/C/48/D/396/2009
Annex
Decision of the Committee against Torture under article 22 of
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (forty-eighth session)
concerning
Communication No. 396/2009
Submitted by:
Combey Brice Magloire Gbadjavi
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Switzerland
Date of complaint:
18 August 2009 (initial submission)
The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
Meeting on 1 June 2012,
Having concluded its consideration of complaint No. 396/2009, submitted to the
Committee against Torture by Combey Brice Magloire Gbadjavi under article 22 of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment,
Having taken into account all information made available to it by the complainant,
his counsel and the State party,
Adopts the following:
Decision under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention against
Torture
1.1
The complainant is Combey Brice Magloire Gbadjavi, a national of Togo born in
1969. He claims that his deportation to Togo would constitute a violation by Switzerland of
article 3 of the Convention. He is represented by counsel, Guido Ehrler.
1.2
Under rule 108, paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure, the Committee requested the
State party not to expel the complainant to Togo while his complaint was under
consideration.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
In 1994, the complainant joined the Union des Forces de Changement (UFC) as an
active member of its security team. His role was to protect party members, distribute
leaflets and make statements. In 1999, he was arrested by the Togolese authorities for
providing friends in Germany with information on the political situation in Togo. While
being questioned at the gendarmerie, he was beaten until he almost lost consciousness. He
was then taken to his home in Békpota (a residential district of Lomé) so that it could be
searched by gendarmes. During the search, the gendarmes found documents relating to
UFC and, on that basis, they decided to take him back to the gendarmerie, where he was
2
GE.12-43942