CAT/C/48/D/343/2008
resulting from the opposition political activities of his father, who was an influential and
well-known member of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS).1
2.2
In April 2002, the United States authorities deported the complainant to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo because he had several criminal convictions. It was also
because of his criminal record that he, unlike the other members of his family, was not
granted United States citizenship. Upon his arrival at the Kinshasa airport, he was
intercepted by the Congolese authorities, who accused him of being a criminal and took the
money he had on him. After a few hours, they told him that they were aware of his criminal
record in the United States and that they knew his father, a famous former soccer player,
and were aware of the latter’s activities as a UDPS member. The complainant was accused
of being a UDPS member, like his father, and was taken to the Makala prison, where he
claims to have been ill-treated, beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted.2 His detention lasted
4 months and several days. He then escaped from the prison.
2.3
The complainant managed to obtain travel documents for Canada, where he
requested asylum on 4 February 2003. Owing to his psychological state following his
experiences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he wanted to return to the United
States, where he had lived for most of his life, in order to join his family. On 1 May 2003,
he attempted to return illegally to the United States using a fake birth certificate, but he was
stopped, detained and sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment in the United States. As he
was still in the United States when the hearing concerning his application for asylum in
Canada was to take place, the complainant did not appear at the hearing and the
proceedings were discontinued by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on 7
August 2003. A warrant for his arrest pending his removal from the country was issued on
28 June 2004.
2.4
The complainant filed an application in the United States under the Convention
against Torture in which he claimed that he would be at risk of torture in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. He set out several facts in support of his claim, including the
political activities of his father, a UDPS member; the political views attributed to the
complainant as a result of his father’s activities; the fact that he was a Luba from Kasaï and
the links of this ethnic group to UDPS; the political situation in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo; and his detention and torture following his forcible return to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo in 2002. He also submitted a medical certificate issued by the
University Hospital (Newark, New Jersey) after an examination carried out on 17 October
2005. The certificate states that the complainant bears little physical evidence of the torture
and rapes that he underwent, which is not inconsistent with the events he described; that the
psychological effects are evident; and that he seems to be suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder.3
1
2
3
GE.12-43835
According to the affidavit of the complainant’s father, André Kalonzo Ilunga, made on 4 June 2008
and included in the file, he is a co-founder of UDPS, a party that has officially been in existence since
15 February 1982.
Detailed information on the treatment suffered by the complainant is given in his statement to the
Canadian authorities, which is contained in the file.
In her report, Dr. Mona El-Gabry indicates: “On physical examination, Mr. Kalonzo bears little
physical evidence of the torture and rape experienced, but in my medical opinion, this is not at all
inconsistent with the story he describes. (…) I noted a 1 cm linear, hypopigmented scar on the crown
of his head, in the midline, which is consistent with his story of having had an open wound in this
area. Mr. Kalonzo shows no external signs of the rape that he had experienced; however, it is rare for
there to be any external evidence of rape or sodomy. Mr. Kalonzo relates a story of brutalization and
trauma at the hands of Congolese authorities. Because Mr. Kalonzo was a young man when he
received his wounds and because he received adequate medical attention immediately after his release
3