CCPR/C/128/D/2710/2015 grounds to institute criminal proceedings and upholding the investigator’s decision. On 10 October 2011, the author’s counsel filed a complaint with Osh City Court against the investigator’s decision of 19 May 2011. On 4 November 2011, Osh City Court dismissed the complaint, upholding the investigator’s decision of 19 May 2011. 5.9 The author’s counsel appealed the decision of Osh City Court to Osh Regional Court, which on 1 December 2011 overruled the Osh City Court decision of 4 November 2011 and the investigator’s decision of 19 May 2011, sending the case back for additional investigation. In its decision, Osh Regional Court stated that the investigator had not met with the author and his counsel, had not verified their arguments, and had not found out about the circumstances in which the author’s injuries had been inflicted. On 8 December 2011, the Osh Regional Prosecutor’s Office assigned the same investigator who had previously issued a refusal to initiate criminal proceedings, to conduct additional investigations. On 18 December 2011, without having taken any investigative steps, the investigator again issued a decision of refusal to initiate criminal proceedings. The text of the refusal to initiate criminal proceedings of 18 December 2011 was identical to the text of the earlier decision of 19 May 2011. 5.10 The author contests the State party’s assertion that the additional investigation established that the decision by the Osh Regional Prosecutor’s Office investigator to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings was well founded. The author claims that no additional investigation was carried out by the investigator, who disregarded the Osh Regional Court decision of 1 December 2011 and simply duplicated his previous refusal to initiate criminal proceedings. As for the non-exhaustion argument of the State party, the author points out that according to the Criminal Procedure Code, the legality and validity of courts’ decisions is examined by higher courts. Given that on 1 December 2011 Osh Regional Court, acting as a cassation court, had already ruled that both the investigator’s decision of 19 May 2011 and the Osh City Court decision of 4 November 2011 were arbitrary and groundless, the author and his lawyer had no ground on which to further appeal the Osh Regional Court decision to the Supreme Court. Therefore, the author claims that he has exhausted all available domestic remedies. Additional observations by the State party 6. In a note verbale dated 17 January 2018, the State party reiterated its initial observations. Issues and proceedings before the Committee Consideration of admissibility 7.1 Before considering any claim contained in a communication, the Committee must decide, in accordance with rule 97 of its rules of procedure, whether it is admissible under the Optional Protocol. 7.2 The Committee has ascertained, as required under article 5 (2) (a) of the Optional Protocol, that the same matter is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. 7.3 The Committee notes that the State party claims that the author failed to exhaust all available domestic remedies as the decision of 18 December 2011 of the Osh Regional Prosecutor’s Office investigator not to institute criminal proceedings into the author’s allegations of torture was not appealed to a higher prosecutor’s office or to a court. The Committee also notes the author’s contention that he, his sister and his counsel filed several complaints to the Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as a cassation appeal to Osh Regional Court which reversed the investigator’s decision of 19 May 2011 and the Osh City Court decision of 4 November 2011 and returned the case for additional investigation. The Committee thus takes note of the claim that the author has exhausted all available effective domestic remedies, as on multiple occasions he brought his torture claims to the attention of the authorities who were dealing with the criminal case, which resulted on two occasions in the reopening of investigations. Accordingly, the Committee concludes that in 6