31 In Conclusions 73. of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia of 23 October 2014 states that “With regard to the assessment of the Protector of Citizens that the competent public authorities fail to comply with their duties in the fight against impunity for torture, that they do not always conduct timely and detailed procedures to determine whether the rights of persons deprived of liberty were violated, that individual responsibility for violation of these rights and responsibility for omissions in work and organisation of work was apportioned to responsible persons only in few cases, as well as that few persons responsible for violation of these rights were punished, and particularly having in mind that the Protector of Citizens and the Constitutional Court identified certain cases of abuse, the National Assembly orders the competent public authorities to fully comply with their duties in the fight against impunity for torture, to take all necessary measures and activities to prevent abuse and, in accordance with the law, to conduct timely and detailed procedures to investigate all substantiated allegations of abuse and apportion subjective and objective responsibility and to punish those responsible.” 6.1. Police custody As part of oversight of treatment of persons brought in by the police and persons placed in police custody, in 2014 the Serbian National Preventive Mechanism visited a total of 19 police stations. The NPM prepared 7 reports of visits to police administrations in 2014, including one report of a visit conducted in late 201386 which was submitted to the visited facility and the competent Ministry in early 2014. The reports of the visits contained a total of 120 recommendations. Of those, the competent authorities have complied with 67 recommendations, while 8 recommendations have not been complied with and 45 need to be monitored further. Similarly as in the past, many of the recommendations given by the Serbian NPM concerned improvements in the conditions of placement in custody cells. Those recommendations that did not require any financial investment have mostly been implemented. On the other hand, those that did require financial investment (reconstruction of rooms, installation of heating, installation of video surveillance etc.) have not been implemented in most cases; instead, the competent services of the Ministry of Interior have been notified of the required adaptation works and their cost. Shortage of funds is the most commonly cited reason for failure to comply with the recommendations. The NPM has recommended the decommissioning of two custody cells87 because they do not meet the minimum standards for the placement of persons in police custody; furthermore, the NPM has called for adaptation of certain custody cells88 and has demanded that the conditions of placement be brought in compliance with the applicable standards. Just as last year, due to a lack of rooms suitable for remanding persons in police custody, it has been observed that persons remanded in custody are often held in police offices89 or transferred to other police stations, for example in the case of the Police Administration of Vranje, which has only one custody cell situated in the Police Station in Surdulica, although its police stations are dispersed over a wide geographic area. Namely, due to a shortage of custody cells, police officers at the Police Administration of Vranje, the Police Station in Bujanovac, the Police Station in Preševo, the Police Station in Trgovište, the Police Station in Bosilegrad and the Police Station in Vladičin Han transfer all persons they detain to the Police Station in Surdulica or the District Prison in Vranje, which makes their work much more difficult and complicated and increases safety risks both for the persons in police custody and the assigned police officers. Furthermore, not all of the visited police administrations/stations have dedicated areas where persons who are in police custody for more than 24 hours could spend some time in fresh air. Report of the Visit to the Police Administration of the City of Belgrade, case No. 71-71/13. Custody cells in the Police Station in Kula and the Police Station in Apatin. 88 Rooms in the headquarters of the Police Administration of Novi Pazar, the Police Station in Tutin, the Police Station. in Sjenica, the Police Station in Surdulica and the headquarters of the Police Administration of Sombor. 89 The Police Station in Mionica and the Police Station in Mali Iđoš. 86 87