Photographed under the influence of alcohol

Concerning K.G vs Denmark for violation of article 7 of CCPR.

The author was born and raised in the village of Badulla, Sri Lanka where he owned two shops. He is of Tamil ethnicity and Hindu faith. The author’s elder sister converted to Christianity from Hinduism and thus the author’s family was denied access to the Hindu temple, which is why they started going to a Christian church.

In 2006, an employee invited the author to visit his family and meet his friends. During the night, the author was drunk and was photographed with known members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the pictures, the author was holding a weapon in front of the LTTE logo.

According to the author, due to a disagreement in 2008, his father was killed by relatives of the author’s wife. The police then called the author for an interview about his father’s death. The author was not able to attend because on his way to the interview he was attacked by unknown people. The author’s former employee threatened to send the pictures taken in 2006 to the police if the author did not pay 1,000,000 rupees to LTTE. When the author refused to pay, the pictures were sent to the police. The author fears that the Sri Lankan authorities suspect him of being a member of LTTE. Thus the author fled to Denmark and applied for asylum. The Danish authorities rejected the author’s application for asylum since it considered that the author had failed to substantiate that he would be at risk of persecution if returned to Sri Lanka. Therefore a complaint was sent to CCPR.

The Committee found that while the author challenges the assessment of evidence and factual conclusions reached by the Board, he has nonetheless failed to demonstrate that they are manifestly unreasonable or arbitrary. Thus the Committee concludes that the author’s removal to Sri Lanka would not violate his rights under CCPR.

20. July 2021

CCPR 2347/2014
  • Decision: 22. March 2016
  • Comm: Human Rights