SITUATION IN PENITENTIARY INSTITUTIONS As a result of this group violence, L.K. was heavily injured so that the injuries were dangerous for his life. In particular, he had multiple wounds and bruises on his forehead, both eyes, right temple and nose with hemorrhages in his skull soft tissues and the brain substance, and a linear fracture of his nose. With a view of letting the perpetrators go unpunished, Security Officer I.Sh. deliberately misled the investigator who arrived at the institution to inspect the scene. In particular, I.Sh. lied to the investigator by saying that L.K. got these injuries at a different place when he fell down on the stairs from the second floor. The Ministry of Corrections then unknowingly published this wrong information about the incident. On 23 May 2013, as a result of a closed cranio-cerebral trauma that developed due to acutely swollen and softened brain, L.K. passed away without coming around. A general obligation under Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires the States to conduct effective investigation in ill-treatment even if it was administered by private individuals.8 The approach of the European Court of Human Rights is that, under Article 1 of the Convention, the High Contracting Parties are obligated to secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in the Convention; to do so, the States must take measures to ensure that individuals within their jurisdiction are not subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including ill-treatment administered by private individuals.9 INVESTIGATION OF ILL-TREATMENT QQ Applications received and the results of monitoring activities carried out by the Office of the Public Defender show that effectiveness of investigation into alleged facts of ill-treatment in remand facilities and institutions for sentenced prisoners remain a concern. With its purpose in mind, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires by implication not only that States refrain from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment (hereinafter, «ill-treatment») but that they carry out an effective investigation into allegations of such treatment. Although this is not expressly stated in Article 3, such conclusion logically follows from the general obligation under Article 1 to secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in the Convention, including by means of conducting an effective investigation. Otherwise, the general legal prohibition of ill-treatment would, despite its fundamental importance, be ineffective in practice and it would be possible in some cases for agents of the State to abuse the rights of those within their control with virtual impunity.10 To prevent the spreading of the impunity syndrome amongst State agents, effective investigation into allegations of ill-treatment plays a crucial role, as stressed in general and specific reports of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). The CPT has mentioned that lack of prompt and effective response to information indicative of ill-treatment leads those minded to ill-treat persons deprived of their liberty to a conclusion that they will get away with punishment.11 According to CPT: The Public Defender has been repeatedly expressed his stance concerning ill-treatment and impunity in both his annual reports to the Parliament and special reports. In this report too, we emphasize that each occurrence of ill-treatment must be investigated following the procedural standards implicated by Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This is crucial to preventing the development of the impunity syndrome in the 8 M. and Others v. Italy and Bulgaria, Judgment of 31 July 2012, par. 99. 9 Denis Vasilyev v. Russia, Judgment of 17 December 2009, par. 98. 10 Labita v. Italy, Judgment of 6 April 2000, par. 131; see also Boicenco v. Moldova, Judgment of 11 July 2006, par. 102. 11 14th General Report CPT’s Activities, par. 25. 12 Report to the Georgian Government on the visit to Georgia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 5 to 15 February 2010, par. 17, available at http://www. cpt.coe.int/documents/geo/2010-27-inf-geo.pdf [last accessed 16.03.2014]. 2013 “The CPT wishes to stress that the credibility of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment is undermined each time officials responsible for such offenses are not held to account for their actions. Some of the delegation’s interlocutors met during the visit were of the opinion that information indicative of ill-treatment was frequently not followed by a prompt and effective response, which engendered a climate of impunity.”12 NPM Report 7