(COURTESY: OTTAWA. BUREAU, BY ALLAN THOMPSON) OTTAWA—A Federal Court judge has ordered a new hearing for a refugee Claimant from China, ruling that the original refugee panel didn’t take the man’s mental disability into consideration.

The Immigration and Refugee Board originally rejected Ze Yung Chen’s refugee claim, saying his story wasn’t. credible.

But Mr, Justice bud Cullen ordered the claim be reconsidered because the panel hadn’t taken into consideration that the claimant was suffering for injuries  caused when he was beaten by police.

“In failing to address the applicant’s medical condition on the record, | find that the board ignored relevant evidence and erred in law,” Caution ruled in a decision dated July 49) “When the applicant’s demeanor is affected’ by a medical condition, it could have an impact on his credibility. ‘The confusion in 6 Man’s story may have been caused by his mental disorder, not by an effort to dupe refugee officials, Cullen suggested.

In some hearing transcripts, the man ‘gels mixed up on how many brothers and sisters he has, not something he’d be likely to try to mislead the refugee ‘board about, Cullen said,

The applicant came to Canada in 1992 and made a refugee claim in December of that year, He claimed that, because his parents and grandparent is were members of China’s landlord class, he had been subjected to persecution at school, He also claimed that, during his involvement in the student movement, he took part in a march to the provincial/ government building in Fuzhou City in tee a During a clash with police, he said, he was clubbed on the head by an officer, The refugee board said the troubles the man faced as a member of the landlord class amounted to discrimination, Not persecution, And the board.

Concluded that the man’s role in the student movement was minimal. The judge said board members overlooked medical evidence submitted by the claimant that he suffered a mental disability and posttraumatic stress because of a police beating.

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 11, 1995