CAT/C/35/D/174/2000 Page 10 4.2 After consultations with the Secretariat, the State party, on 20 October 2003, explained that “the acceptance”, in its note verbale of 14 January 2003, “implies that Serbia and Montenegro recognizes the competence of the Committee against Torture to consider the aforementioned [complaint], but not the responsibility of the State concerning the individual [complaint] in question.” 4.3 At the same time, the State party advised the Committee that it was still in the process of collecting data from the relevant authorities in order to prepare its observations on the merits of the complaint. No such information has been received to date. Issues and proceedings before the Committee: 5. Before considering any claim contained in a communication, the Committee against Torture must decide whether or not it is admissible under article 22 of the Convention. The Committee has ascertained, as it is required to do under article 22, paragraphs 5 (a) and (b), of the Convention, that the same matter has not been, and is not being, examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement, and that the complainants have exhausted all available domestic remedies. It therefore considers that the complainant’s claims under articles 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention are admissible and proceeds to its examination on the merits. 6.1 The Committee has considered the communication in the light of all information made available to it, in accordance with article 22, paragraph 4, of the Convention. It regrets that the State party has not submitted any observations on the substance of the complaint and observes that, in the absence of any such observations, due weight must be given to the complainants’ allegations, to the extent that they are substantiated. 6.2 The Committee must decide, pursuant to article 12 of the Convention, whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that an act of torture has been committed against the complainants’ son prior to his death and, if so, whether the State party’s authorities complied with their obligation to proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation. 6.3 The Committee considers that the following elements cast doubts on the sequence of events leading to the death of the complainants’ son, as established by the State party’s authorities: (a) The fact that the autopsy report states that the injuries “were inflicted with a brandished, blunt and heavy object,” thus suggesting that N. N. had been tortured prior to his fall from the window of apartment no. 82. (b) The statement by inspector J. J. that he promised N. N. that he would not be subjected to physical violence, if he opened the door of apartment no. 82; (c) The fact that the search warrant issued on 19 April 1994 did not explicitly authorize the police to arrest N. N., and that it states 11 a.m. as the time of entry into the apartment, although the death of N. N. occurred at 9.40 a.m., according to the police report;