The complaint July 1995 addressed to the Public Attorney’s Office, the pathologist agreed that the remains should be exhumed for forensic examination and pointed out that, as he was not a specialist in forensic medicine, he might have made a mistake or missed some details. 3.1 The author considers that first the police and, subsequently, the judicial authorities failed to ensure a prompt and impartial investigation. All domestic remedies were exhausted without the court ever having ordered or formally instituted proper investigative proceedings. The preliminary investigation by the investigating judge, which consisted of questioning of the accused and some witnesses, did not produce sufficient information to clarify the circumstances of the death and the court never ordered a forensic examination. The court did not order either the hearing of other witnesses, such as the employees of the funeral home, whose testimony could have been relevant to establish the chronology of events. The author further contends that the investigation was not carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code. For instance, the police failed to inform the investigating judge immediately of the incident, although obliged to do so by article 154. The entire on-site investigation was therefore conducted by the police without the presence of a judge. The author further contends that every action aimed at clarifying the incident was initiated by the parents of Milan Ristic and that the competent government bodies failed to take any effective steps to that end. 2.6 The parents of the victim filed criminal charges against a number of police officers before the Public Prosecutor in Šabac. On 19 February 1996, the Public Prosecutor dismissed the charges. Under Yugoslav law, following dismissal of a criminal complaint, the victim or the person acting on his behalf may either request the institution of investigative proceedings or file an indictment and proceed directly to trial. In the present case, the parents presented their own indictment on 25 February 1996. 2.7 The investigating judge questioned the policemen allegedly involved as well as witnesses and found no grounds for believing that the alleged criminal offence had been committed. The Criminal Bench of the Šabac District Court endorsed the investigating judge’s decision. The Court did not find it necessary to hear the testimony of the two forensic experts and did not consider the possibility of ordering an exhumation and a new autopsy. Besides, the investigating judge delivered to the parents an unsigned statement which the pathologist allegedly made in court when they were not present and which contradicts the one he had made in writing on 18 July 1995. The author further explains that, in addition to the medical contradictions, there were many other conflicting facts that the judicial investigation failed to clarify. 3.2 On the basis of the above, the author claims that the State party has violated several articles of the Convention, in particular articles 12, 13 and 14. He states that although the parents had the possibility of seeking compensation, the prospect of their being awarded damages was de facto nonexistent in the absence of a criminal court judgement. 2.8 The parents appealed the decision of the District Court to the Serbian Supreme Court, which on 29 October 1996 dismissed the appeal as unfounded. According to the ruling, the testimony of Dragan Markovic showed without any doubt that Milan Ristic was alive at the time when police officers Sinisa Isailovic and Zoran Jeftic appeared in front of the building in which Mr. Markovic lived. They were responding to a telephone call from a person named Zoran Markovic who had noticed a man at the edge of the terrace from whose behaviour it could be concluded that he was about to commit suicide. Dragan Markovic and the two policemen actually saw Milan Ristic jump from the terrace. There was nothing they could do to stop him. Observations by the State party 4. On 26 October 1998 the State party informed the Committee that, although all domestic remedies had been exhausted, the communication does not fulfil other necessary conditions provided for by the Convention. It stated, in particular, that no act of torture had been committed, since the deceased did not have any contact at all with State authorities— the police. Accordingly, the communication was not admissible. The Committee’s admissibility decision [5.] At its twenty-second session, in April-May 1999, the Committee considered the admissibility of the communication and ascertained that the same matter had not been and was not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. The Committee noted the State party’s statement that all domestic remedies had been exhausted, and considered that the communication was not an abuse of the right of submission or incompatible with the provisions of 2.9 The parents again tried to bring the case before the judiciary, but on 10 February 1997 the Šabac District Court ruled that prosecution was no longer possible in view of the decision of the Supreme Court of Serbia. On 18 March 1997, the Supreme Court dismissed their further appeal and confirmed the District Court’s ruling. 66