CAT/C/71/D/883/2018
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
27 August 2021
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 883/2018*, **
Communication submitted by:
V.M., G.M., S.M. and T.M. (represented by
counsel, Robert Nyström)
Alleged victims:
The complainants
State party:
Sweden
Date of complaint:
31 August 2018 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rules 114 and 115 of
the Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted
to the State party on 23 January 2019 (not issued
in document form)
Date of adoption of decision:
19 July 2021
Subject matter:
Deportation to Armenia
Procedural issues:
Failure to sufficiently substantiate claims
Substantive issues:
Risk to life or risk of torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment if deported to
country of origin (non-refoulement)
Article of the Convention:
3
1.1
The complainants are V.M., born in 1982, his wife G.M., born in 1988, and their
children T.M. and S.M.,1 all citizens of Armenia. Their applications for asylum have been
rejected by Sweden. The complainants claim that their deportation to Armenia would
constitute a violation of their rights under article 3 of the Convention. The complainants are
represented by counsel.
1.2
On 3 September 2018, pursuant to rule 114, paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure, the
Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures,
requested the State party not to expel the complainants while their communication was being
considered.
Facts as submitted by the complainants
2.1
The complainant V.M. is of Azerbaijani ethnicity. In 2008, he lived in Armenia with
his wife. He had been helping his cousin, who was a journalist: his cousin had asked him to
* Adopted by the Committee at its seventy-first session (12 July–30 July 2021).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
1
Essadia Belmir, Claude Heller, Erdoğan İscan, Liu Huawen, Ilvija Pūce, Ana Racu, Diego RodríguezPinzón, Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Peter Vedel Kessing.
The complainants do not specify T.M.’s exact date of birth. S.M. was born in 2015.
GE.21-11863(E)