5.  The applicant was born in 1945 in Sri Lanka. He is of Tamil ethnicity. Currently he lives in a centre for asylum seekers in Denmark. 6.  On 18 May 2007, with a valid passport and a Sri Lankan ID card, the applicant entered Denmark and requested asylum. His eldest son, his daughter‑in-law, his grandchild and his brother-in-law already lived there and had permanent residence permits. 7.  According to an asylum registration report of 23 May 2007 the applicant was born and grew up in the north of Sri Lanka. His wife died in 1978 and his two sons, born in 1975 and 1977, were brought up by their maternal grandmother. In 1995 the applicant and his eldest son moved to a refugee camp. They stayed there until 1998, when the eldest son was sent out of the country and the applicant went to Colombo. The applicant stayed in Colombo until 2002. Thereafter he lived in Jaffna. On 17 May 2007, with the help of an agent, he went by plane to Denmark. The agent had picked him up at the airport in Copenhagen and driven him to a centre where he could request asylum. He could not explain why he was in possession of a train ticket issued on 28 April 2007 for the town where his brother-in-law lived. The applicant wanted to live in Denmark with his son. It was better than living in Sri Lanka. The applicant had not had contact with his youngest son since 1995 and his brother remained in Sri Lanka. 8.  In an asylum application form of 31 May 2007, the applicant added that while staying in the refugee camp his eldest son had been arrested five times and the applicant had been arrested twice. To leave the camp it had been obligatory to obtain permission from the military. In 1998 the applicant helped his eldest son leave the country. While in Colombo the applicant was arrested and detained three times by the authorities in order to check whether he had permission to stay there. When a peace agreement was concluded in 2002, the applicant went to Jaffna to live with his brother. The applicant's nephew in Jaffna had been killed by the authorities on 14 November 2006 because he was suspected of being an LTTE member. Thereafter the applicant was constantly harassed by the military forces and he also had problems with the LTTE. 9.  According to an interview report of 29 November 2007 prepared by the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen, now Udlændingeservice), the applicant stated that he had not been politically active or member of any political party or organisation. He had no previous convictions and had not been detained, charged, arrested or imprisoned, and was not a wanted person in his country of origin. In 1995 he wanted to get away from north Sri Lanka due to unrest there. He and his eldest son had to live in a refugee camp because they were unable to obtain an entry permit for Colombo. In February 1998 they received the entry permit and entered Colombo. At the end of 1998 the applicant's son went to Denmark. Thereafter, the applicant lived on the money his son sent him. Between 2002 and 2005 the applicant could freely travel between Colombo and Jaffna. He lived permanently in an apartment in Colombo, but often travelled to Jaffna. His brother died from an illness and during the last two years in Sri Lanka the applicant lived with his brother's widow and five children to save up money and to be with his family until his departure. After the nephew was killed, the military forces came to the house seven or eight times and interviewed the applicant about the LTTE. The military was mainly looking for his brother's other children, who were young, while he was an old man. He wanted to get away and live in peace with his son in Denmark. He had not had any contact with anybody in his country since his departure. 10.  On 20 December 2007 the applicant's request for asylum was refused by the Immigration Service, which found that the applicant failed to fulfil the criteria under section 7 of the Aliens Act (Udlændingeloven), notably because his relationship with the LTTE was so remote that he would not be of sufficient interest to the authorities or in real and concrete danger of being subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention upon return to Sri Lanka. 11.  The applicant appealed to the Refugee Appeals Board (Flygtningenævnet) before which an oral hearing was held on 31 March 2008. It appears that the applicant maintained that his brother had moved to India (and not died from an illness as previously stated). Also, the applicant explained that he had in fact seen the nephew being shot. The other people in the village and the applicant's sister-in-law reported to the LTTE who had informed the authorities about the nephew's activities, and consequently the informer, a woman, was killed by the LTTE. The Refugee Appeals Board upheld the decision to refuse to grant the applicant asylum on the same day. It attached importance to the applicant's statement that the visits by the authorities concerned the young people of the household, and found that the applicant was not himself an object of interest to the authorities. 12. On 23 June 2008 the applicant's request for a residence permit on humanitarian grounds under section 9 b, subsection l, of the Aliens Act was refused by the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs. In its decision the Ministry took account, inter alia, of the applicant's age and health and found that, according to the information available, the applicant did not suffer from any physical or mental illness of a very serious nature, and that no circumstances otherwise provided any basis for granting a residence permit on humanitarian grounds.
Subsequent events before the Court and domestic proceedings 13.  On 14 November 2008 the Danish Refugee Council (Dansk Flygtningehjælp), an NGO, requested that the Refugee Appeals Board reopen the case. It referred to the applicant's previous explanations and the general deterioration of the security situation in Sri Lanka. It also added that, according to the applicant's eldest son, it was in fact the applicant who had reported to the LTTE who it was that had informed the authorities on the nephew's membership. Allegedly, the authorities were therefore interested in the applicant. The eldest son had also informed the applicant's representative that the killed nephew's brother had stated that the authorities were looking for the applicant after his departure. Moreover, the eldest son had been granted asylum status in Denmark due to his affiliation with the LTTE and because he had been tortured during an investigation in 1998. Thus, according to the applicant's eldest son, the applicant had been detained because of him. 14. On 14 November 2008, on the applicants' behalf, the Danish Refugee Council also submitted a letter to the Court of Human Rights requesting that it stay the applicants' deportation. 15.  On 17 November 2008, the Court of Human Rights decided to apply Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, indicating to the Government that it was in the interests of the parties and the proper conduct of the proceedings that the applicant should not be expelled to Sri Lanka pending the Court's decision. 16.  Consequently, on 19 November 2008 the Refugee Appeals Board extended the time-limit for the applicants' departure until further notice. 17.  On 9 January 2009 the Refugee Appeals Board again refused to reopen the applicants' asylum case finding that no essential new information or aspects had been submitted. It rejected the information added by the applicant's son as fabricated for the occasion. 18.  On 16 June 2009 the Refugee Appeals Board decided to suspend the examination of asylum cases concerning ethnic Tamils from northern Sri Lanka, including the applicant's case. 19.  On 16 December 2009, on the basis of the most recent background information concerning Sri Lanka including, inter alia, a Memorandum of 26 October 2009 prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Refugee Appeals Board decided to review the suspended cases, including the applicant's case. 20.  On 16 March 2010 the Refugee Appeals Board refused to reopen the applicant's case as it found that the most recent general background information would not lead to a revised assessment of the case. More specifically in its letter to the applicant's representative it stated as follows:
“... The Refugee Appeals Board still finds that your client's fear of the LTTE and the Sri Lankan authorities does not warrant a residence permit under section 7 of the Aliens Act. In that connection, the Refugee Appeals Board refers to the fact that your client stated during the asylum procedures that he had not been a member of or sympathised with the LTTE and that he had not been sought by or had problems with the LTTE at any time prior to his departure. He stated that the family had no contact with the LTTE while he lived with his brother. On the contrary, the LTTE supposedly avenged the murder of your client's nephew by killing the woman who had allegedly informed on your client's nephew to the authorities. The Refugee Appeals Board thus finds itself unable to accept the supposition that your client has outstanding issues with the LTTE which, in fact, was defeated in May 2009. Your client has also referred to fear of persecution by the Sri Lankan authorities. In this connection, the Refugee Appeals Board refers to the fact that during the asylum procedures your client stated that personally he was not an object of interest to the authorities, that he was solely questioned about his knowledge of other LTTE members in connection with the murder of his nephew which took place three or four years ago, and that personally he has not been persecuted or threatened in his country of origin. Your client also left his country of origin without any problems using his own genuine passport. Thus, the Board finds that it has not been rendered probable that your client would be of interest to the Sri Lankan authorities or suspected of supporting the LTTE. The possibility that as an ethnic Tamil from northern Sri Lanka your client risks being questioned and investigated by the authorities upon entry into his country of origin does not lead to a revised assessment of the case under asylum law. The individuals at particular risk of being detained and investigated upon entry in Colombo are young Tamils, men in particular, from northern and eastern Sri Lanka; those without ID; those not resident or employed in Colombo; and those recently returned from the West, see United Kingdom: Home Office, Report of Information Gathering Visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka 23 - 29 August 2009. Regardless of whether it is accepted as a fact that the Sri Lankan authorities have suspected your client of supporting the LTTE, it does not lead to a revised assessment. In this respect, the Refugee Appeals Board refers to the fact that it appears from the background material available to the Board that, in general, individuals who have supported the LTTE on a lower level are not of interest to the authorities. Thus, generally, only high profile members of the LTTE who are still active and wanted, or individuals wanted for serious criminal offences are of interest to the authorities, see Home Office, Operational Guidance Note, Sri Lanka, August 2009, and Home Office, Report of Information Gathering Visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka 23 - 29 August 2009. Your client has also referred to a fear of the general situation of insecurity in Sri Lanka and the fact that he is old and wants to live in Denmark where there is peace and quiet. Moreover, he has no family in his country of origin to take care of him, but he has agreed with his son living in Denmark that he can stay with the son and be provided for. As in the previous decisions in the case, the Refugee Appeals Board still finds that the general situation for ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka is not of such nature that it in itself warrants a residence permit under section 7 of the Aliens Act. Thus, the Refugee Appeals Board fully relies on the decisions of 31 March 2008 and 9 January 2009. Against that background, the Board still finds that it has not been rendered probable that, in case of return to Sri Lanka, your client would be at concrete and individual risk of persecution as covered by section 7(1) of the Aliens Act, or that your client would be at a real risk of outrages as covered by section 7(2) of the Aliens Act. The Refugee Appeals Board further states that the Board has no authority to decide whether your client could be granted a residence permit under other provisions of the Aliens Act. Such authority lies with the Danish Immigration Service and the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs. It should be noted that your client's time-limit for departure is still postponed on the basis of the request of 18 November 2008 from the European Court of Human Rights. If your client's lawful stay in Denmark lapses, he must leave the country immediately, see section 33(1) and (2) of the Aliens Act. As appears from the decision of the Board of 31 March 2008, your client may be forcibly returned to Sri Lanka if he does not leave voluntarily, see section 32a, cf. section 31, of the Aliens Act.”