CAT/C/47/D/347/2008
because of her precarious living conditions in Switzerland. She stated that she was suffering
from depression and had developed psychosomatic problems as a result of that fear and the
fact that she was not working in Switzerland, since she did not have legal permission to do
so. In her letter of 24 July 2008, she reiterated that she was suffering from serious health
problems that required regular medical follow-up. She also alleged that she had been raped
by two officials who had helped her to flee from Ndjili airport – a fact which she said she
had not mentioned in her asylum application out of a sense of propriety and because she
had not thought that it was important to her application.
2.2
As far as the complainant’s departure from the Democratic Republic of the Congo is
concerned, it is claimed in her file that in late 2000 her fiancé, who had left Kinshasa for a
business trip to Lubumbashi, informed her by telephone that he was travelling to Kisangani
and that he was working for the rebels led by Jean-Pierre Bemba. She claims that he also
informed her in the same conversation that Joseph Kabila was not the son of Laurent-Désiré
Kabila, but the son of a Rwandan, and that the assassination of Kabila senior had been
planned so that a Rwandan could take control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The complainant claims to have shared that information with persons in her neighbourhood
in Kinshasa. She states that her fiancé subsequently sent a messenger, who gave her a
mobile telephone, money and a copy of the magazine Jeune Afrique featuring an article
relating to the circumstances of the death of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, which she was to
circulate. After this, the messenger was allegedly arrested and questioned. The complainant
also claims to have learned that her name and that of her fiancé had been mentioned when
the messenger was being questioned. She alleges that the police went to her home in her
absence and found copies of the magazine Jeune Afrique and letters from her fiancé.
2.3
Fearing for her life, the complainant claims that she initially took refuge with
relatives living in Maluku, where she stayed until 25 August 2001. Having then allegedly
heard from her mother that soldiers were constantly visiting the family home and enquiring
about her, the complainant decided to leave the country. She says that she flew from Ndjili
airport to Bamako on 28 August 2001 and arrived in Rome — via Lagos, Accra and Addis
Ababa — on 9 September 2001, before reaching Switzerland by road on 10 September
2001. The same day, she submitted an application for asylum in Vallorbe.
2.4
On 13 June 2002, the Swiss Federal Office for Refugees rejected the complainant’s
application for asylum, deeming her claims to be implausible. The Office noted, in
particular, the complainant’s inability to substantiate the role of her fiancé in the rebellion
led by Jean-Pierre Bemba, and did not accept her testimony that she had been responsible
for spreading political propaganda in her neighbourhood. The Office considered that the
complainant’s low profile in the opposition undermined the credibility of her claim that
there had been a major mobilization of security forces to arrest her.
2.5
On 14 November 2002, the Swiss Asylum Appeals Commission rejected the
complainant’s appeal on the grounds that she had failed to pay the procedural fee by the
deadline set. Two successive requests for an extension of the deadline were also declared
inadmissible.
2.6
On 15 August 2005, the complainant requested that the decision of the Swiss
Federal Office for Refugees of 13 June 2002 be reconsidered in the light of new evidence.
This included a copy of the weekly magazine Le Courrier d’Afrique2 featuring two articles
which, according to her, proved that she was wanted by the security forces of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo for supporting an opposition group. She also requested
that the Swiss Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo conduct an inquiry to
2
GE.12-40160
No. 47 (25 April to 10 May 2005).
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