injuries. The complainant, however, has provided the Committee with written statements from his mother, his sister and a cousin indicating that he was in good health when he was arrested and severely injured at the time of his release. 2.3 On 31 January 2000, the complainant, through counsel, filed a criminal complaint with the Kragujevac Municipal Public Prosecutor’s Office alleging that he had been the victim of the crimes of slight bodily harm and civil injury, as provided for under articles 54 (2) and 66 of the Serbian Criminal Code, respectively. As there was no response for almost six months following the submission of the complaint, the complainant wrote a letter to the Public Prosecutor’s Office on 26 July 2000 requesting an update on the status of the case and invoking, in particular, article 12 of the Convention. At the time the complainant submitted his case to the Committee, i.e. more than 23 months after the submission of the criminal complaint, no response had been received from the Public Prosecutor. 2.4 The complainant claims that he has exhausted available domestic criminal remedies and refers to international jurisprudence according to which only a criminal remedy can be considered effective and sufficient in addressing violations of the kind at issue in the instant case. He also refers to the relevant provisions of the State party’s Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) setting forth the obligation of the Public Prosecutor to undertake measures necessary for the investigation of crimes and the identification of the alleged perpetrators. 2.5 Furthermore, under article 153 (1) of CPC, if the Public Prosecutor decides that there is no basis for the institution of a formal judicial investigation he must inform the complainant, who can then exercise his prerogative to take over the prosecution in the capacity of a “private prosecutor”. However, CPC sets no time limit within which the Public Prosecutor must decide whether to request a formal judicial investigation. In the absence of such a decision the victim cannot take over the prosecution of the case on his own behalf. Prosecutorial inaction following a complaint filed by the victim therefore amounts to an insurmountable impediment in the exercise of the victim’s right to act as a private prosecutor and to have his case heard before a court. Finally, even if there were a legal possibility for the victim himself to file for a formal judicial investigation because of the inaction of the Public Prosecutor, it would in effect be unfeasible if the police and the Public Prosecutor had failed to identify all of the alleged perpetrators beforehand, as in the instant case. Article 158 (3) of CPC provides that the person against whom a formal judicial investigation is requested must be identified by name, address and other relevant personal data. A contrario, such a request cannot be filed if the alleged perpetrator is unknown. The complaint 3.1 The complainant claims that the acts described constitute a violation of several provisions of the Convention, in particular article 2, paragraph 1, read in conjunction with article 1; article 16, paragraph 1; and articles 12, 13 and 14 taken alone and/or together with article 16, paragraph 1. Such acts were perpetrated with a discriminatory motive and for the purpose of extracting a confession or otherwise intimidating and/or punishing him. He also submits that his allegations should be interpreted in the context of the serious human rights situation in the State party and, in particular, the systematic police brutality to which Roma and others are subjected. In evaluating his claim the Committee should take into account his Romani ethnicity and the fact that his membership in a historically disadvantaged minority group renders him particularly 143