CAT/C/20/D/47/1996
page 2
Annex
DECISION BY THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE UNDER ARTICLE 22 OF THE
CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING
TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT - TWENTIETH SESSION
Communication No. 47/1996
Submitted by:
V.V. (name withheld)
(represented by counsel)
Alleged victim:
The author
State Party:
Canada
Date of communication:
15 March 1996
The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment,
Meeting on 19 May 1998,
Adopts the following:
Decision on admissibility
1.
The author of the communication is V.V., a Sri Lankan citizen of Tamil
origin currently residing in Canada, where he has applied for refugee status
and is at risk of expulsion. He alleges that his expulsion would constitute a
violation of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author states that in July 1983 he was living with his father,
brother and sister at Vauvniya and that, after a series of intercommunity
riots, he was forced to seek refuge in a camp, where he remained for
three months. In 1990 the village was bombed and his father lost an eye. In
August 1990, members of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) stole his
father's van and used it to attack a bank. The author was then arrested by
the military and taken to the military camp at Vauvniya, where he was
interrogated, beaten and tortured. The author states that he was struck with
nail-studded planks, held close to a flame, kicked with metal-toed boots and
threatened with the “barbed wire treatment”. After 25 days he managed to
bribe someone and return to his father's home. Also in August 1990, Tamil
fighters came to his family's home and demanded money, which the family paid.
The soldiers returned for more money in December 1990 and again in March 1991.
2.2
In August 1991, the author opened a business together with an associate
whose sister was the minister of education and whose brother was a police