2.2 It is submitted that, following the massacres of students at Lubumbashi
in May 1990, D. was again suspected of printing leaflets, and decided to
leave the country with a false passport and visa. He entered France through
Belgium on 1 August 1990.
2.3 On 16 August 1990, D. filed a request for refugee status, which was
turned down by the Office Francais de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides
on 24 August 1990, on the grounds that the alleged facts and risk of
persecution were not sufficiently substantiated. His appeal was then rejected
by the Commission de Recours des Réfugiés (Commission of Appeal in
Refugee Matters) on 22 February 1991. As a result, his application for a
residence permit was refused by the police authorities of Paris on 2 May
1991, and D. was ordered to leave France by 2 June 1991. Despite this, he
apparently stayed in France.
2.4 On 15 July 1993, D. filed a further request on the grounds of his father's
alleged murder in Zaire on 10 July 1993, which was rejected by the Office
Francais des Réfugiés, et Apatrides. His appeal was again rejected on 17
December 1993 by Commission de Recours des Réfugiés, on the grounds
that there were no new facts, since he had stated that the political situation in
Zaire had not changed. It is submitted that D. was unable to file an appeal
against this decision with the Conseil d'Etat, because he was not provided
with legal aid.
2.5 Following an order of escort to the frontier (arrêté de reconduite à la
frontière), D. was arrested in 1994 during an identity check and kept for 48
hours in custody and 6 days in detention. He then had to be released because
there was no flight available for his deportation to Zaire. D. claims that he
only heard of the order of escort to the frontier when he was already under
arrest. In this connection, it is submitted that the order apparently had been
sent by registered mail, and that the French post office does not hand over
mail to foreigners without residence permits. It is further stated that no arrest
warrant was shown to D., although he had requested it in order to appeal
against his arrest. It is submitted that it was for that reason that D. was not
able to appeal against the order of escort to the frontier or against his arrest.
The complaint
3. D. says that he fears for his life if forced to return to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
State party's observations on the admissibility of the communication