CAT/C/49/D/437/2010
attacked and two terrorists and a police officer were killed. Even though the complainant
was not in the vicinity of the armed robbery, the terrorists claimed that the complainant had
sold their plan to the police and they started looking for him.
2.2
The complainant contacted the army to inform it about his situation, however the
police officer to whom he was telling his story started beating him and accusing him of
being a terrorist. He was detained for one night before he managed to escape.
2.3
After this incident, the complainant was wanted by both sides: the authorities and
the terrorists. The complainant received eight summonses to present himself to the police,
four concerning him and the others concerning his father and brother. On 7 April 2005, 28
April 2005, 15 May 2005 and 26 June 2005, the complainant’s father went to the police
station to report that, respectively, five, six and three members of a terrorist group came to
his house during the night looking for the complainant. On 12 January 2008, the
complainant was sentenced in absentia for belonging to a terrorist group and participation
in an armed robbery which led to the death of a law enforcement official. He was sentenced
to 10 years’ imprisonment with forced labour.
2.4
On 1 December 2005, the complainant arrived in Sweden, and on the same day he
requested asylum. On 18 September 2007, the Migration Board rejected his request for
asylum, while recognizing that terrorist violence is on the decline but still persists, in
particular in the east of Algiers. The same could be said of the brutality by law enforcement
officials. It noted that the complainant’s narration of the facts was not coherent, that one
police officer could not represent the whole State and that the complainant did not approach
other law enforcement officials with his claims. The Migration Board also noted that the
summonses the complainant presented do not contain any mention that he was suspected of
a crime but are simple convocations to a police station. On 25 June 2008, his appeal was
rejected by the immigration tribunal, which held that the authenticity of the judgement
sentencing the complainant was questionable, and on 21 October 2008, the appeal court in
Stockholm refused to grant leave to appeal. On 26 November 2009, he was informed that
he needed to leave Sweden. On 24 February 2010, the complainant was detained in
immigration detention. On 18 October 2010, the complainant refused to board a plane
without travel documents and the authorities tried unsuccessfully to force him to board the
plane.
The complaint
3.
The complainant claims that his expulsion to Algeria would violate article 3 of the
Convention. He claims that he would be exposed to a real and personal risk of being
imprisoned, where he would certainly be tortured, as he had been sentenced for killing a
police officer. Moreover, he claims to be at risk of extrajudicial killing by the terrorists who
are on the lookout for him. The terrorists, who would want to seek revenge, as the
complainant allegedly revealed their plan of the armed robbery which led to the death of
two of their colleagues, would be able to find him in prison or could be held at the same
prison. He also claims that the human rights violations in Algeria are systematic.
State party’s observations on admissibility and merits
4.1
On 18 May 2011, the State party informed the Committee that the enforcement of
the expulsion order against the complainant had been stayed on 19 November 2010.
4.2
On 31 August 2011, the State party submitted its observations on admissibility and
merits. The State party questions the complainant’s translations of the Swedish court
decisions, stating that the translations are of inadequate quality and do not give an accurate
picture of the examination made by the Migration Board and the migration courts. It notes
that the decision to expel the complainant entered into force on 24 October 2010.
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