218. The laws of the member States concerning the enforcement of criminal sanctions contain no absolute prohibition of torture and other similar treatment. Nonetheless, they provide for human treatment of convicted persons. The member States have also taken measures to reform their legislation in order to guarantee the principle of the independence of the judiciary with respect to the executive. In the Republic of Serbia, the Law on Judges was amended in March 2003, aligning it with international standards. It is expected that the Criminal Code will be amended soon to include the criminal offence of torture. 219. The Government of the Republic of Montenegro set up a working group to draft a Criminal Law, a Law on Criminal Procedure and a Law on the State Prosecutor. It is envisaged that the criminal offence of torture will be incorporated in the Criminal Law. The Code of Criminal Procedure is expected to provide for the verification of suspects’ allegations during pre-trial and investigation relative to torture and other inhuman treatment and punishment. Charges and trials in the period 1992-2002 in the cases involving torture and maltreatment 220. From 1 January 1992 to 30 September 2002, the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia brought 32 charges against 43 police officials on suspicion of having committed 21 criminal offences of maltreatment, 6 offences of unlawful arrest, 3 offences of coercion to sexual intercourse, 3 offences of unnatural carnal knowledge through the abuse of duty and extraction of statement and 1 offence of carnal act in connection with the criminal offence of coercion to sexual intercourse or unnatural carnal knowledge through the abuse of duty. The greatest number of charges was brought in 2001 and 2002. 221. Between 1 January 2000 and 31 October 2002, citizens lodged 4,625 complaints against police conduct; 523 of them were considered founded and, as a result, disciplinary action was taken against 158 officers for serious breaches of duty and against 111 officers for minor breaches of duty. Pending completion of the proceedings, 32 officers were removed. Ten criminal and 14 minor offence charges were brought, while 4 officers had their employment contract terminated by agreement. It was established that 2,929 complaints were unfounded, while 1,173 are being investigated. The greatest number of processed cases (32 criminal charges against 43 officers) involved improper and/or excessive use of force related to the use of means of coercion. Three persons died, while five sustained serious injuries in those incidents. Upon completion of the proceedings, 12 officers were sentenced to prison terms from 80 days to 6 years. 222. Disciplinary action was taken against 32 officers, 4 officers were dismissed, 10 were fined and 5 were given another assignment. Proceedings against two officers were dropped, five were acquitted and proceedings against six officers are pending. 223. In addition to legal measures taken ex officio by the Ministry of the Interior, 1,076 charges were pressed by citizens directly to the Public Prosecutor against 1,578 officers, most often because of the criminal offence of maltreatment in the line of duty (930), followed by extraction of statement (124) and unlawful arrest. The prosecution of most of the charges was discontinued, as they were found baseless. 224. In ruling on compensation of victims, the courts have begun to apply the Convention against Torture directly. 85