CAT/C/33/D/207/2002 Page 5 alone and/or in conjunction with article 16, para.1 of the Convention have been violated. 3.4 The complainant further claims that his rights under article 14 taken alone and/or in conjunction with article 16, para. 1, of the Convention have been violated. By failing to provide him with a criminal remedy the State Party has barred him from obtaining “fair and adequate compensation” in a civil lawsuit, “including the means for as full a rehabilitation as possible.” Pursuant to domestic law, the complainant had the possibility of seeking compensation by way of two different procedures: 1) criminal proceedings, under article 103 of the Criminal Procedure Code, that should have been instituted on the basis of his criminal complaint, or 2) in a civil action for damages under articles 154 and 200 of the Law on Obligations. Since no formal criminal proceedings followed as a result of his complaint with the Public Prosecutor, the first avenue remained closed to him. As regards the second avenue, the author filed no civil action for compensation given that it is standard practice of the State party’s courts to suspend civil cases for damages arising out of criminal offences until prior completion of the respective criminal proceedings. Had the complainant decided to sue for damages immediately following the incident, he would have faced another insurmountable procedural impediment caused by the inaction of the public prosecutor office. Namely, articles 186 and 106 of the Civil Procedure Code stipulate that both parties to a civil action, the plaintiff and the respondent, must be identified by name, address and other relevant personal data. Since the complainant to date remains unaware of this information and as it was exactly the duty of the public prosecutor’s office to establish these facts, instituting a civil action for compensation would have clearly been procedurally impossible and thus rejected by the civil court. State party’s submissions on the admissibility and the merits of the complaint 4. The complaint with its accompanying documents was transmitted to the State party on 17 April 2002. Since the State party did not respond to the Committee’s request, under rule 109 of the rules of procedure, to submit information and observations in respect of the admissibility and merits of the complaint within six months, a reminder was addressed to it on 12 December 2002. On 20 October 2003, the State party informed the Committee that the Ministry on Human and Minority Rights was still in the process of collecting data from the relevant authorities with a view to responding on the merits of the complaint. Such response, however, has not been received by the Committee. Issues and proceedings before the Committee 5.1 The Committee notes the State party’s failure to provide information with regard to the admissibility or merits of the complaint. In the circumstances, the Committee, acting in accordance with rule 109, paragraph 7 of its rules of procedure, is obliged to consider the admissibility and the merits of the complaint in the light of the available information, due weight being given to the complainant’s allegations to the extent that they have been sufficiently substantiated. 5.2 Before considering any claims contained in a complaint, the Committee against Torture must decide whether or not the complaint is admissible under article 22 of the Convention. In the present case the Committee has ascertained, as it is