8.6 Concerning the principle of prompt investigation of incidents of alleged
torture or other ill-treatment, the author refers to the Committee's
jurisprudence stating that a delay of 15 months before the initiation of an
investigation is unreasonable and contrary to article 12 of the Convention
(Qani Halimi-Nedzibi v. Austria, CAT/C/11/D/8/1991).
8.7 Concerning the principle of the impartiality of the judicial authorities,
the author states that a body cannot be impartial if it is not sufficiently
independent. He refers to the case-law of the European Court of Human
Rights to define both the impartiality and the independence of a judicial
body in accordance with article 6 (1) and 13 of the European Convention on
Human Rights and underlines that the authority capable of providing a
remedy should be "sufficiently independent" from the alleged responsible
author of the violation.
8.8 Concerning the existence of reasonable grounds to believe that an act of
torture or other ill-treatment has been committed, the author, again relying
on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, points to "the
existence of facts or information which would satisfy an objective observer
that the person concerned may have committed the offence".
8.9 Concerning the principle of compensation and rehabilitation for an act of
torture or other ill-treatment, the author mentions that an effective remedy
entails also the payment of compensation.
8.10 The author stresses that, at the time of his submission, five years had
already elapsed since his son's death. He contends that, notwithstanding
strong indication that grave police brutality had caused the death of Milan
Ristic, the Yugoslav authorities have failed to conduct a prompt, impartial
and comprehensive investigation able to lead to the identification and
punishment of those responsible, and have thus failed to provide the author
with any redress.
8.11 Relying on a significant amount of sources, the author explains that
police brutality in Yugoslavia is systematic and considers that public
prosecutors are not independent and rarely institute criminal proceedings
against police officers accused of violence and/or misconduct towards
citizens. In such cases, the action is very often limited to a request for
information directed to the police authorities alone and the use of dilatory
tactics is common.
8.12 Finally, the author specifically refers to the most recent examination of
the periodic report submitted by Yugoslavia to the Committee and the
latter's subsequent concluding observations, in which it stated that it was
"extremely concerned over the numerous accounts of the use of torture by