CAT/C/12/D/13/1993
page 3
forced to retire as a magistrate at the Kinshasa Magistrate’s Court (Tribunal
de Grande Instance) because of that affiliation. The author participated in
several manifestations and attended illegal meetings.
2.2
On 20 June 1989, the author was arrested by three members of the Division
Spéciale Présidentielle, when he was about to deliver a letter from his father
to Mr. Etienne Tshisekedi, a founding member and leader of the UDPS. He was
detained in the military camp of Tshatsi, where he was locked up in a cell of
one square metre. During the four days that followed, he was tortured by his
interrogators, whom he mentions by name. He was subjected to electric
shocks, beaten with a rifle, and his testicles were bruised until he lost
consciousness. On 24 June 1989, he was brought before a military tribunal,
found guilty of conspiracy against the State and sentenced to 15 years’
imprisonment. He was transferred to the military prison of Ndolo, where he
was detained for seven months. Although the author had lost part of his
eye-sight and suffered a head-injury caused by the torture, he was not given
any medical treatment. On 20 January 1990, he was released under the
condition that he present himself twice a week at the Auditorat militaire of
Mantete. In February 1990, he sought medical treatment for his eye-injury at
the General Hospital Mama Yemo.
2.3
Subsequently, the author’s father and brothers suggested that he leave
Kinshasa, to avoid that the police would find other members of the movement by
following him. They also feared for the author’s security. On 30 March 1990,
the author left Zaire, leaving behind his family, including his two children
who live with his father; after 15 days he arrived in Luanda, Angola, where
he stayed with friends for three months. A friend provided him with a visa
for Italy, where he arrived on 29 July 1990, using the passport of his friend.
On 7 August 1990, he illegally crossed the border to enter Switzerland;
on 8 August 1990, he applied for recognition in Switzerland as a refugee.
In the course of that month he learned that his father had been detained
after his departure.
2.4
The author was heard by the Cantonal Office for Asylum Seekers in
Lausanne on 10 October 1990. He submitted a medical report written by a
medical doctor in Switzerland indicating that the scars on his body
corresponded with the alleged torture. A report by an ophthalmologist
indicated that the author had an eye-injury, caused by a trauma, which
according to the author was caused by a blow to his head during the
interrogation in June 1989. On 31 January 1992, the Federal Refugee Office
(Office fédéral des réfugiés) rejected his application and ordered his removal
from Switzerland. It considered that, even if the author had been detained in
the military prison of Ndolo, it was unlikely that he had been imprisoned for
political reasons, since the International Committee of the Red Cross, which
had visited the prison in November 1989, had stated that it did not visit him,
since he apparently did not belong to the category of prisoners which fell
under the mandate of the ICRC. The Refugee Office further doubted the
authenticity of the provisional release order, which the author had submitted
as evidence of his detention. With regard to the author’s return to Zaire,
the Refugee Office considered that there were no indications that he would be
exposed to punishment or treatment prohibited by article 3 of the European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.