CAT/C/46/D/375/2009
application. The Federal Office for Refugees did not find credible the complainant’s claims
that he had been arrested by security officers and detained for six months in 2003 for being
a member of Oromo Neetsaanet Gymbaar, and that he was wanted for the same reason. On
27 January 2005, the Swiss Asylum Review Board dismissed his appeal against the
decision of the Federal Office for Refugees.
2.2
Despite this negative ruling and the concomitant order to leave Switzerland, the
complainant remained in Switzerland. It was while living there that he became politically
active, and he claims to be a founder member of the opposition party Kinijit/CUDP
Switzerland (Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party). He adds that he holds a key
position in the party, as one of its representatives in the canton of Zurich. The complainant
stresses that CUDP members in Ethiopia are the victims of regular clampdowns and
persecution by the authorities. He also says that he has been involved in organizing many
demonstrations and meetings of the Ethiopian opposition in Switzerland and that many
photographs of him at such demonstrations have been published on political websites or in
newspapers.
2.3
On 29 November 2006, the complainant made a second application for asylum, this
time on the basis of his political activities in Switzerland. He was questioned by the Federal
Office for Migration (ODM) on 10 December 2008 about the new grounds for his asylum
application. On 17 December 2008, the Federal Office for Migration rejected this
application and ordered him to leave Switzerland. The complainant appealed against this
decision to the Federal Administrative Tribunal, which dismissed his appeal on 12 February
2009. The complainant was given until 24 March 2009 to leave Switzerland. In its decision,
the Federal Administrative Tribunal basically found that the complainant’s political
activities, including those as a CUDP cantonal representative, left him in no danger of
being seen as a threat to the regime in place. Echoing the conclusions of the Federal Office
for Migration, the Tribunal considered that the Ethiopian regime only monitored and
recorded the political activities of its “hard-core” opponents, which did not include the
complainant. It considered that in his role as a CUDP cantonal representative he attended
and helped organize only a limited number of demonstrations. According to the Tribunal,
many Ethiopians in Switzerland are CUDP cantonal representatives, and the Ethiopian
authorities are aware that asylum-seekers step up their political activities deliberately when
their asylum application is turned down. Moreover, the Tribunal saw no evidence that the
Ethiopian authorities had opened any proceedings against the complainant on account of his
political activities in Switzerland. In conclusion, the Tribunal found that the complainant
did not meet the conditions to be granted refugee status, and that he was not at risk of being
subjected to torture if returned.
2.4
The complainant, however, maintains that his role in planning and organizing such
events for CUDP, and his role as a founder member of that party, shows that he is highly
placed in the opposition movement, which leaves him particularly vulnerable to repression
by the Ethiopian security forces. He stresses that the Federal Administrative Tribunal was
wrong to attribute so little weight to his position as a CUDP cantonal representative,
pointing out that this organization is not represented in every canton and that he is therefore
one of a minority of opponents in that position. He also points out that when he was
interviewed on 10 December 2008 about the new grounds for his asylum application, he
was only briefly questioned and the Federal Office for Migration did not properly check the
nature and scope of his political activities. He repeats that the political activities of the
Ethiopian community in exile are meticulously monitored and recorded, and affirms that in
the circumstances he would be at risk of arrest and torture if returned to Ethiopia.
GE.11-43945
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