Medicine in Belgrade. The autopsy report states that the death was caused by damage to vital brain centres caused by the fracture of cranial bones and haemorrhage from the rupture of the aorta and the torn blood vessels surrounding the multiple bone fractures. These injuries “were inflicted with a brandished, blunt and heavy object”. sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy. 2.5 The report of the investigating judge states that several police officers informed him that N.N. had “categorically declined” to unlock the door after having argued with the police for some time. When they entered the flat, the deceased “had just jumped out of the window.” M.K. confirmed that N.N. had refused to open the door. When she tried to snatch the keys of the apartment from his pocket, he told her that he would rather escape through the window than to open the door. Although she did not see what happened in the room from where N.N. had tried to escape, M.K. concluded from his absence that he had jumped out of the window, when the policemen entered the flat. She stated that there was no physical contact between N.N. and the members of the police intervention team. Apart from the cables tied to the radiator, the report mentions that a white threesocket extension cable was hanging on a tree above the sidewalk where the corpse of the deceased was lying. One single- and one double-wire of around 2.5 metres length each were tied to the socket box— probably the missing ends that had been torn from the cables tied to the radiator. Lastly, the report states that the investigating judge ordered the police to interview all witnesses of the incident. 2.2 According to the police report, the complainants’ son was found dead on the sidewalk in front of building N° 2 at Pariske Komune Street in Novi Beograd on 19 April 1994. He had fallen out of the window of apartment N° 82 on the 10th floor of the same building at 9.40 a.m. In an attempt to escape his arrest by the police, he had connected several cables and had tied them to a radiator. When trying to descend to the subjacent window on the ninth floor, the cables broke apart and N.N. fell on the concrete pavement. 2.3 According to police inspector J.J., this incident was preceded by the following events: On 19 April 1994, he and two other inspectors, Z.P. and M.L., went to apartment N° 82 at 2, Pariske Komune Street to arrest the complainant on the basis of a warrant, as he was suspected of having committed several property-related offences. Through a slit above the threshold of the entrance door, they noticed a shadow in the corridor. Assuming that N.N. was in the apartment, they unsuccessfully called on him to open the door. After having ordered an intervention team to break the entrance door, inspector J.J. warned N.N. that the police would forcibly enter the flat, if he continued to refuse opening the door. J.J. then went to the eleventh floor and entered the flat located directly above apartment N° 82. From a window, he saw N.N. looking out of the window below. After having returned to apartment N° 82, J.J. again called on N.N. to surrender, promising that he would not be subjected to physical violence. The intervention team then broke the door of the apartment, where they only found M.K., the girlfriend of the deceased, who was crying and stated that N.N. had fallen out of the window. Looking out of the window, J.J. saw the body of a man lying on the sidewalk. 2.6 On 22 April 1994, the deputy public prosecutor advised the complainants that he considered that their son’s death had been caused by an accident and that, accordingly, no criminal investigation would be initiated. 2.7 On 18 July 1994, the complainants brought charges of murder against unknown perpetrators, asking for a criminal investigation to be initiated by the Belgrade public prosecutor’s office. They claimed that the police clubbed their son with a blunt metal object, thereby causing his death, and subsequently threw his corpse out of the window to conceal the act. On 12 August and on 5 December 1994, the deputy public prosecutor informed the complainants that no sufficient grounds existed for instituting criminal proceedings, and advised them to file a criminal report with the public prosecutor’s office, submitting the evidence on which their suspicion was based. 2.4 The deceased was identified as N.N., based on documents found in one of his pockets, as well as by M.K., and his death was established by a physician of the Secretariat for Internal Affairs. At around 10:30 a.m., the investigating judge of the Belgrade District Court, D.B., arrived together with the deputy public prosecutor of the District of Belgrade (hereafter “deputy public prosecutor”), V.M., inspected “the scene of the crime”, 1 interviewed M.K. and ordered that the body of the deceased be 2.8 In the meantime, the investigating judge had requested a commission of medical experts of the Belgrade Institute of Forensic Medicine, composed of the same doctors who had conducted the autopsy, to prepare an expert opinion on the death of N.N. In their report dated 22 November 1994, the experts concluded on the basis of the autopsy report, as well as other documents, that the location, distribution and types of injuries observed on N.N. indicated that they were the result of the fall of his body from a considerable height on a wide, flat concrete surface. 1 The term “scene of the crime” is used in the police report dated 19 April 1994. 93