CAT/C/46/D/399/2009
Annex
Decision of the Committee against Torture under article 22 of
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (forty-sixth session)
concerning
Communication No. 399/2009
Submitted by:
F.M-M. (represented by counsel, Bureau de
conseil pour les Africains francophones de la
Suisse (Office of Counsel for Frenchspeaking Africans in Switzerland)
(BUCOFRAS))
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Switzerland
Date of complaint:
9 September 2009 (initial submission)
The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
Meeting on 26 May 2011,
Having concluded its consideration of complaint No. 399/2009, submitted to the
Committee against Torture by F.M-M. 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 complainant of
the communication, his counsel and the State party,
Adopts the following:
Decision on admissibility
1.1
The complainant is F.M-M., a national of the Republic of the Congo born in 1977
who currently resides in Switzerland. He claims that his forced repatriation to the Republic
of the Congo would amount to a violation by Switzerland of article 3 of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is
represented by the Bureau de conseil pour les Africains francophones de la Suisse
(BUCOFRAS).
1.2
On 18 September 2009, at the request of the complainant, the Committee, through
its Special Rapporteur on New Complaints and Interim Measures, requested the State party
not to deport the complainant to the Republic of the Congo pending the Committee’s
consideration of his complaint.
Factual background
2.1
Since 1995 the complainant has been an active member of the Pan-African Union
for Social Democracy (UPADS) led by former Congolese President Pascal Lissouba. As
part of his duties as an activist, the complainant played an important role in his party’s
campaign as a propagandist in the Lekoumou region in the run-up to the 1997 elections.
2
GE.11-43892