The State party’s submission on admissibility and merits and the complainant’s comments thereon 4.1 On 14 January 2003, the State party provided its submission on the admissibility and merits of the complaint. It contests the complainant’s allegations and submits that police officers of the Secretariat of Internal Affairs in Novi Sad attempted three times to deliver a request for an interview to the complainant to discuss the contents of his complaint. As the complainant was never at home at the time of delivery, these requests were delivered to the complainant’s wife. The complainant failed to contact the Secretariat of Internal Affairs. 4.2 The State party submits that the Municipal State Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad received a report from the Secretariat of Internal Affairs of Novi Sad on 2 October 1997, which confirmed that after checking its files, it was established that the complainant had not been brought to nor detained in any of its premises. The Secretariat of Internal Affairs provided the same information on 4 February 1999, at the request of the Municipal State Prosecutor’s Office of 23 December 1998. 4.3 Finally, the State party submits that the complainant and two other persons had perpetrated 38 offences in the Czech Republic, for which they were sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. The Municipal Court of Novi Sad ordered that the complainant’s name be placed on a list of wanted persons, to serve prison sentence No. I.K. 265/97 of 5 May 1998.e It submits that, on 25 September 2002, the complainant was still in the Czech Republic.f 5.1 On 25 November 2003, the complainant commented on the State party’s submission and argues that it suggests that as a convicted criminal he is not entitled to complain against police ill-treatment, and that given the circumstances, the investigating authorities did everything to investigate the incident at issue and provide redress. He recalls that the authorities did not interview anyone connected with the incident and ignored the medical certificate documenting the injuries sustained by the complainant. It did not interview the complainant’s sister, who had nursed him after the incident, the doctor who examined him, the police officers on duty the day the incident occurred, or the complainant’s lawyers. Neither did they request the Czech authorities through inter-State legal assistance procedure to interview the complainant. 5.2 He submits that apart from the State party’s failure to investigate the incident, it has failed to provide the Committee with a plausible alternative explanation as to how the victim’s injuries could have been inflicted other than through acts of its agents. In the complainant’s view, by failing seriously to contest the facts and/or the legal arguments put forward, the State party has in effect expressed its tacit, yet clear, acceptance of both.g Issues and proceedings before the Committee Consideration of admissibility 6.1 Before considering any claim contained in a complaint, the Committee 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, paragraph 5 (a), of the Convention that the same matter has not been, and is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. With respect to the exhaustion of domestic remedies, the Committee took note of the information provided by the complainant about the criminal complaint which he 115