30 Prevention of Torture (APT) and other relevant international organisations. The Report has also been submitted to other NPMs. The NPM posts its Annual Reports in Serbian and in English on the NPM’s website80 and on the website of the Protector of Citizens81. 6. Background and NPM’s Activities by Specific Areas in 2014 There has been no effective fight against impunity for torture in the Republic of Serbia. In the course of 2014, the NPM found multiple instances of irregularities which involved failure to perform medical examination of persons deprived of liberty after the use of force in accordance with the applicable regulations and standards, which is essential for determining whether the use of force was justified, whether the examined person was subjected to mistreatment and, ultimately, how best to provide health care to a person against whom force was used. In this context, the Administration for Enforcement of Penal Sanctions has complied with the relevant recommendation made by the Protector of Citizens82 and has undertaken measures to improve the manner in which medical examination of persons deprived of liberty after the use of force is performed, as well as to improve the reporting arrangements in cases of suspected violence against the examined persons. In addition to strengthening the role of physicians in the fight against impunity for torture, it is also necessary to improve the oversight of placed of detention and to strengthen their internal controls for this purpose. Among other things, the Supervision Unit should be separated from the Administration for Enforcement of Penal Sanctions and attached to the Ministry of Justice as a separate organisational unit83; furthermore, the functioning of internal control mechanisms with regard to the respect for human rights at psychiatric hospital and social welfare homes should also be improved. An illustrative example of this is a case of torture identified in early 2012 in a recommendation by the Protector of Citizens84, which was confirmed in mid-2013 by a judgement of the Constitutional Court.85 The prison administration has still not found the direct perpetrators and the responsible officers who should have taken take necessary measures to prevent or to timely identify and investigate the mistreatment, but failed to do so. What is worrying is that the prosecutors’ office has suspended the investigation and that no judicial proceedings have been initiated, which resulted in a failure to apportion criminal liability in the case where two public authorities previously found that a person deprived of liberty was subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It is obvious that the competent public authorities should step up their fight against impunity for torture. In this context, in addition to prosecutor’s offices and courts, internal control mechanisms of public authorities should have an important role in terms of increasing their efficiency. http://ombudsman.npm.rs/index.php?limitstart=28&lang=sr. http://www.zastitnik.rs/attachments/2902_izvestaj_%20NPM_%202012.pdf. 82 Recommendation of 6 October 2014, ref. No. 29004/29006. 80 81 83 In its Resolution No. 73 of 23 October 2014, the National Assembly advised the Ministry of Justice to consider the recommendations made by the Protector of Citizens with regard to separation of the Supervision Unit from the Administration for Enforcement of Penal Sanctions and to propose relevant amendments to laws and other regulations in that context. 84 Case No. 12-3630/12. Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia No. Už-4100/2011. 85