CAT/C/64/D/738/2016
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
5 October 2018
English
Original: French
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 738/2016*, **
Communication submitted by:
Z, represented by counsel
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Switzerland
Date of complaint:
23 March 2016 (initial submission)
Date of the present decision:
9 August 2018
Subject matter:
Expulsion to the Democratic Republic of the
Congo
Procedural issues:
Substantive issues:
Risk of torture upon return to country of origin
Articles of the Convention:
3
1.1
The complainant is Z, a Congolese national born in 1980. He applied for asylum in
Switzerland, but his application was rejected. He is facing removal to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and claims that his forced repatriation would constitute a violation
by Switzerland of article 3 of the Convention. He is represented by Mr. Alfred wa Mwanza.
1.2
On 8 April 2015, the Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints
and interim measures, requested the State party to refrain from expelling the complainant to
the Democratic Republic of the Congo while his complaint was being considered by the
Committee.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant submitted an initial application for asylum in Switzerland on 27
October 2003. His application was rejected in a final decision handed down by the Federal
Administrative Court on 15 May 2009 and the expulsion order against him became
enforceable.
2.2
On 11 April 2011, the complainant submitted a second asylum application to the
State Secretariat for Migration, in which he invoked developments that had occurred since
he fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His application was rejected by the relevant
authority on 17 August 2012 and he continued to face expulsion from Switzerland. On
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-fourth session (23 July–10 August 2018).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Essadia Belmir, Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu,
Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Honghong Zhang.
GE.18-16592 (E)
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