CAT/C/37/D/265/2005**
Page 3
2.1 The complainant belongs to the Talysh minority group in Azerbaijan. After his
graduation in mechanical engineering in Russia and upon completion of his military service
in Germany, he joined the Talysh separatist movement lead by Alakram Hummanov, which
strived to establish a Talysh republic. In 1994, he left this group and moved to Baku, where
he lived until he fled to Sweden.
2.2 The complainant declares to have been an active member of the Azerbaijani
Democratic Party (ADP), a registered opposition party to the current regime. He contends
that his political activities were carried out in the district of Khatai and included, among
others, organising demonstrations against the regime. He claims to have been seen on
television on several occasions in the framework of these activities.
2.3 In 2001, the complainant was summoned by the police in several occasions and
interrogated about the leader of the Talysh separatist movement, Hummatov. On 15 June
2001, policemen dressed in plainclothes searched the complainant’s home in Baku and seized
some documents and recordings. He was arrested and taken to premises of the Ministry of
National Security in Baku, where he was repeatedly beaten. He was then taken to a “police
house” and locked in a cell in the basement, where he was kept for approximately a year. He
contends that, during his detention, he was beaten on numerous occasions and that he was not
allowed to go out or speak to anyone and was never informed of the duration of his detention.
He further contends that his case was never tried by a court and that no lawyer was appointed
to him.
2.4 In May 2002, he fell ill and was brought to a KGB hospital, which also treated
prisoners. The complainant states that, while he was in hospital, his father and the secretary
general of the ADP, Sardar Jalaloglu, organised his escape and obtained, through bribery, a
party membership card and a driver’s license in his name. A visitor delivered these
documents to the complainant.
2.5 On the 14 November 2002, the complainant walked out of hospital dressed in military
clothes, with the help of a soldier connected to Jalaloglu, while guards were busy with phone
calls and visitors. That night he crossed the Azeri border to the Russian region of Dagestan.
He arrived in Sweden via Kaliningrad on 19 November 2002, with a forged Dutch passport.
The day after his arrival, he applied for asylum.
2.6 By decision of 4 July 2003, the Swedish Migration Board (“Migrationsverket”) rejected
the complainant’s application. The Board denied the existence of pronounced discrimination
against Talysh population in Azerbaijan and questioned the complainant’s credibility as to
how he had managed to escape from hospital and how his driver’s licence had been issued.
2.7 On 8 July 2003, the complainant appealed to the Aliens Appeals Board. On 10 October
2003, this Board received a letter from the German authorities, in reply to a request for
information made under the Dublin Convention, where it was stated that the complainant had
applied for asylum in Germany on 25 July 1995.
2.8 On 10 October 2003 and 3 March 2004, the complainant presented submissions to the
Board, enclosing medical reports from the Crisis and Trauma Centre at Danderyd hospital,
issued on 18 and 19 February 2004, respectively. These reports confirmed that he had been
subjected to acts of torture as described by him, including systematic beatings, electroshocks