CAT/C/20/D/94/1997
page 2
Annex
VIEWS OF THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE UNDER ARTICLE 22,
PARAGRAPH 7, OF THE CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT TWENTIETH SESSION
concerning
Communication No. 94/1997
Submitted by:
K.N. (name withheld)
[represented by counsel]
Alleged victim:
The author
State party:
Switzerland
Date of communication:
30 October 1997
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,
Having concluded its consideration of communication No. 94/1997,
submitted to the Committee against Torture under article 22 of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
Having taken into account all information made available to it by the
author of the communication, his counsel and the State party,
Adopts its Views under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention.
1.
The author of the communication is K.N., a national of Sri Lanka,
seeking asylum in Switzerland. He claims that his forced return to Sri Lanka
by Switzerland would constitute a violation of article 3 of the Convention.
He is represented by counsel.
Facts as presented by the author
2.1
The author states that he was born on 13 March 1972 and that he is a
Tamil and a Christian. He lived with his family in the northern province of
Jaffna. In 1990, during the war between the “Indian Peace Keeping Forces”
and the Tamil Tigers, the author was forced to work for the Tigers. He was
detained for a few days by the Indian army and then released. However,
in 1994, the author's brother joined the Tamil Tigers and when the Sri Lankan
armed forces reconquered Jaffna in October 1995, they were allegedly searching
for the author and his brother. The author states that he has no news from
his brother since he joined the Tigers.