CAT/C/23/D/118/1998
page 3
Facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author states that he was a member of the People’s Revolution Movement (MPR)
from 1992. He was working on behalf of former President Mobutu and promoting Mobutu’s
interests. He received money from the MPR and had no other occupation. On 10 May 1997,
six soldiers loyal to Laurent-Désiré Kabila questioned him and sacked his house. The author hid
for four days at the home of his superior in the MPR before leaving the country on 14 May 1997
using a false passport.
2.2
The author entered Switzerland illegally on 5 June 1997 and the same day applied for
asylum at the Geneva Registration Centre. By decision of 13 August 1997, the Federal Refugee
Office (ODR) rejected the application and gave the author until 30 September 1997 to leave
Switzerland. An appeal against that decision was lodged with the Swiss Commission of Appeal
in Refugee Matters (CRA). That appeal was dismissed on 6 August 1998 and a new deadline of
15 October 1998 was set for the author to leave Switzerland.
The complaint
3.1
The author contends that, if sent back to the DRC, he risks being arrested, tortured and
even killed by the army or the population, owing to his involvement with the MPR and the fact
that President Kabila is currently hunting down all supporters of the former Government. The
press and Amnesty International have reported instances of torture and massacres committed by
soldiers of the Alliance of Democratic Liberation Forces (AFDL). It is thus a certainty that
former supporters of Mobutu are not safe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The State party’s observations on the admissibility and merits of the communication
4.1
By letter of 17 December 1998, the State party informed the Committee that it did not
contest the admissibility of the communication. By letter of 6 April 1999 it submitted its
observations on the merits.
4.2
The State party argues that the CRA did not consider, in its decision of 6 August 1998,
that the risk of future persecution alleged by the author conformed with the facts. Firstly, it had
not been established that the author had been a member of the MPR, as he had not produced a
membership card. Moreover, assuming that he had been a member of that party, it would only
have been in a minor role, as he himself had emphasized at his second hearing. That being so, it
was somewhat difficult to understand why Kabila’s soldiers should have felt the need to question
him on the MPR’s activities rather than its senior members. Lastly, the CRA had found the
author’s statements concerning the events of 10 May 1997 to be unconvincing. It was known
that the advance guard of the AFDL did not enter the capital until 17 May 1997. The six soldiers
in question could thus only have belonged to the regime still in place on that date. Therefore,
insofar as it could be accepted that the event actually took place, any fear of persecution would
have disappeared with the coming to power of the AFDL, Mobutu’s armed forces having been
disbanded in the meantime.