procedure. Compliance with the provisional measures called for by the Committee in cases it considers reasonable is essential in order to protect the person in question from irreparable harm, which could, moreover, nullify the end result of the proceedings before the Committee. Communication N° 113/1998 Submitted by: Radivoje Ristic Alleged victim: Milan Ristic (deceased) State party: Yugoslavia Date of adoption of Views: 11 May 2001 Subject matter: murder of complainant’s son by police officers ambulance the policemen struck the deceased on the chin, causing injury to his face. Procedural issue: none 2.3 The author provides a copy of the autopsy report, which concluded that the death was violent and caused by an injury to the brain as a result of a fall on a hard surface. The fall also explained the fractures described in the report. The author also provides a copy of the report by the doctor who came with the ambulance. That report says: “By exterior examination I found weak bleeding from the injury behind the left ear. Through the trousers above the right knee an open fracture of thighbone could be seen with small blood signs; around the wound there were no traces of blood.” Substantive issues: failure to promptly investigate allegations of torture, right to complain, right to obtain compensation Articles of the Convention: 12, 13, 14 1. The author of the communication, dated 22 July 1998, is Mr. Radivoje Ristic, a citizen of Yugoslavia, currently residing in Šabac, Yugoslavia. He claims that an act of torture resulting in the death of his son, Milan Ristic, was committed by the police and that the authorities have failed to carry out a prompt and impartial investigation. The communication was transmitted to the Committee, on behalf of Mr. Ristic, by the Humanitarian Law Center, a non-governmental organization based in Belgrade. 2.4 The author contends that the medical reports do not fully tally with each other. The ambulance doctor explicitly states that he noticed no injuries on the face while the autopsy report lists a laceration and bruise on the chin. He challenges the reports, noting that it is hardly possible that a person could fall from a height of 14.65 metres without suffering any injury to the face, heels, pelvis, spine or internal organs and without internal haemorrhaging, leaving only bruises on the left elbow and behind the left ear. Moreover, he notes that there was no blood on the ground. The facts as submitted by the author 2.1 The author alleges that on 13 February 1995 three policemen (Dragan Riznic, Uglješa Ivanovic and Dragan Novakovic) arrested Milan Ristic in Šabac while looking for a murder suspect. One of the officers struck his son with a blunt object, presumably a pistol or rifle butt, behind the left ear, killing him instantly. The officers moved the body and, with a blunt instrument, broke both thighbones. It was only then that they called an ambulance and the on-duty police investigation team, which included a forensic technician. 2.5 At the request of the parents, two forensic experts examined the autopsy report and found it superficial and contradictory, especially in the part referring to the cause of death. According to their report, the autopsy was not performed in accordance with the principles of forensic and medical science and practice and the conclusion is not in agreement with the findings. They proposed the exhumation of the remains and another autopsy by a forensic expert. The author further states that on 16 May 1995 they spoke with the pathologist who had performed the autopsy and visited the alleged scene of the incident. They noted that the autopsy report and the scene had nothing in common, which suggested that the body had been moved. In a written statement dated 18 2.2 The policemen told the investigators that Milan Ristic had committed suicide by jumping from the roof of a nearby building and that they had an eyewitness to that effect (Dragan Markovic). The medical doctor who came with the ambulance pronounced Milan Ristic dead. The ambulance then left, leaving the body to be collected by a mortuary van. The author claims that after the departure of the 65