Substantive issues: Right to life Effective remedy Right to hold opinions without interference Right to peaceful assembly Right to take part in public affairs Articles of the Covenant: 1, 6, 19, 21 and 25 Articles of the Optional Protocol: 4 (2) and 5 (2) (b) 1. The author of the communication (initial letter dated 11 January 1984 and further letters dated 18 May, 8 June and 27 September 1984) is the late Gilberto François Croes, a native of the island of Aruba. Mr. Croes was the leader of the People's Electoral Movement (Movemento Electoral di Pueblo, MEP) of Aruba. When Aruba achieved the status of a self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, on 1 January 1986, the author was elected a member of the Parliament of Aruba. On 26 November 1986, as a result of an automobile accident, the author passed away. By letter of 29 June 1988, his heirs requested the Committee to continue examination of the case. They are represented by counsel. 2.1 It is stated that the author founded the MEP in 1971 and that the party has been proposing Aruba's independence since 1972. Because of his political activity he was allegedly subjected to harassment, accusations of being radical and revolutionary as well as to physical threats and attacks by various political opponents; he deposited complaints with the prosecuting authorities for slander and other offences, but it is claimed that he was denied reasonable satisfaction and that the authorities have condoned these violations. 2.2 In connection with the preparation for the elections of the Island Parliament in April 1983, the MEP, which reportedly had been the majority .party through six elections, (in the November 1985 elections, the MEP lost its majority), was denied permission to hold a parade, apparently on the ground that the relevant request submitted by the MEP had disappeared. The author was allegedly led to believe by police authorities that no obstacle would be placed in the way to the parade, but, on 24 April 1983, an order was given by the police authorities to break up the MEP parade and a policeman shot the author in the chest two inches below the heart. He was operated on and subsequently flown to a hospital in Miami, United States, where he underwent a second operation. It is further alleged that the policeman who did the shooting has not been prosecuted, although the author requested his prosecution on 11 June 1983 and again on 16 November 1983 in a complaint to the Judge of First Instance in Aruba. After the judge rejected prosecution on 22 December 1983, the author directed a request to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands Antilles, which, on 24 February 1984, declared the author's request inadmissible. It is thus claimed that domestic remedies have been exhausted with respect to this allegation, and that "the duration of the investigation itself had taken much too long, unreasonably long in the terminology of the Optional Protocol". 2.3 The author alleged, particularly, that his right to life, his right to being treated equally and his right to see others treated equally under the laws of the Netherlands Antilles were violated by the authorities of the Netherlands Antilles and of the Netherlands. He further alleged that the right to self-determination of the Aruban people was threatened with gross violation by the authorities concerned. 3. In response to a request for further information, the author, in a letter dated 27 September 1984, stated that the alleged attempt on his life "was the result of a conspiracy, inspired to kill me as a leader of the Aruba independence movement", and gave details on another shooting incident and on an alleged raid on his parents' home in August 1977. 4. By its decision of 26 October 1984, the Human Rights Committee transmitted the communication under rule 27