VI. Guaranteeing effectiveness
6.0.1 Investigative systems should be provided with adequate financial
and technical resources and appropriately trained legal, medical
and other specialists.
The need for investigative systems to be adequately funded and resourced
is stressed both in the Istanbul Protocol and in the CEHRC’s Opinion192. The
Protocol emphasises that:
“The persons conducting the investigation must have at their disposal all the
necessary budgetary and technical resources for effective investigation.”193
Members of investigation teams and the experts who assist them must be
adequately trained and be proficient in their respective fields. The Istanbul
Protocol therefore points to the need for “specific essential training”.194 The
CPT has also stressed the importance of adequate training and expertise in
its visit reports:
“The CPT calls upon the Russian authorities to provide the Offices of the Prosecutor
of the Chechen Republic and the Military Prosecutor of the Allied Group of Forces
for the conduct of “anti-terrorist operations” in the North Caucasian region with
the staff, resources and facilities necessary for the effective investigation of cases
involving allegations of ill-treatment, illegal detention and disappearances.
In this connection, the need to substantially reinforce the forensic medical
services in the Chechen Republic must be highlighted. At the present time they
are not able to provide the support required by the criminal justice system to
deal with the problems referred to above. The Forensic Medical Bureau of the
Chechen Republic faces enormous limitations in terms of resources, equipment
and staff, and there are still no possibilities to perform full autopsies on the
territory of the Republic. The CPT calls upon the Russian authorities to take
the necessary steps, as a matter of priority, to enable the Forensic Medical
Bureau of the Chechen Republic to function adequately.”195
Meanwhile, the Court has pointed to the importance of appropriate training
of the specialists involved in investigations, such as forensic doctors.196
192. CEHRC’s Opinion, para. 28.
193. Istanbul Protocol, para. 80.
194. Ibid, paras. 89, 90, 131, 162, 305.
195. Public statement concerning the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation of 10 July 2003.
196. See Barabanshchikov v. Russia, Judgment of 8 January 2009, application no. 36220/02,
para. 59.
Effective investigation of ill-treatment – Guidelines ► Page 64
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