2.2 Following his release, the complainant returned home and spent the next 10 days in bed, being nursed by his sister. On 9 February 1996, he went to see a doctor who examined him and ordered continued bed rest. He prepared a report describing his injuries as follows: “Left upper arm: livid-red and brown discoloration 10 x 8 cm with slightly raised red edges; right shoulder blade and shoulder: livid-red discolorations in the form of stripes 3 x 11 cm, and 4 x 6 cm on the shoulders; gluteal part of the body: blue-livid discolorations of the size of a man’s palm on both sides; outside of the left mid-thigh: distinct red stripe 3x5 cm; inside of right knee: light blue swelling 5x5 cm; area around ankle and soles (both legs): slight, light blue swelling.” The conclusions and opinion was that the “patient should be referred to a neurologist and a laboratory for tests”. The complainant also provides a statement from his sister, who states that he was arrested at 6.30 in the morning on 5 February, held in detention until 7.30 p.m., and that upon return his face was swollen, and he had bruises on his shoulders, back, legs and over his kidneys. There was clotted blood on his legs and his backside was dark blue all over. He had to stay in bed for 10 days and put on compresses, and take pills for the pain. He told her that he had been beaten with a steel wire and baseball bats and had fainted from the beating. 2.3 Fearing possible reprisals by police and not fully aware of his legal rights, the complainant did not file a criminal complaint with the Novi Sad Municipal Public Prosecutor’s Office until 7 November 1996. In the complaint he alleged that an unidentified police officer had committed the crime of extracting a statement by force in violation of 65 of the Serbian Criminal Code (SCC). According to the complainant, he had been arrested several times prior to the incident in question and had been interrogated about several unrelated criminal offences. The complainant considers that the ill-treatment to which he was subjected was intended to obtain his confession for one or more of these crimes. 2.4 The complaint was immediately registered by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. But only on 17 September 1999 (more than 3½ years after the incident and 34 months since the complainant had filed the criminal complaint) did the Public Prosecutor’s Office request the investigating judge of the Novi Sad Municipal Court to undertake preliminary “investigatory actions”. Such an investigation precedes the possible institution of formal judicial investigations, for which the identity of the suspect must be ascertained. The investigating judge of the Novi Sad Municipal Court accepted the Public Prosecutor’s request and opened a case file. Since that date, the prosecuting authorities have taken no concrete steps with a view to identifying the police officer concerned. According to the complainant, if the intent of the investigating judge was really to identify the police officer in question, he could have heard other police officers present at the police station at the time of the abuse, and especially the on-duty shift commander, who must have known the names of all officers working that particular shift. Finally, the complainant indicated in his criminal complaint that during his detention in the police station he was taken to the Homicide Division, which in and of itself could have served as one of the starting points for an official investigation into the incident at issue. No investigation has been undertaken. 2.5 According to the complainant, under article 153 (1) of CPC, if the Public Prosecutor finds on the basis of the evidence that there is reasonable suspicion that a certain person has committed a criminal offence, he should request the investigating judge to institute a formal judicial investigation further to articles 157 and 158 of CPC. If he decides that there is no bases for the institution of a formal judicial investigation, he should so inform the complainant, who can then exercise his prerogative to take over the prosecution of the case on his own behalf i.e. in his capacity of a “private prosecutor”. As the Public Prosecutor failed formally to dismiss 113